Expectations
by StephanG
Summary: When Gohan crashes in on a secret meeting between Dumbledore and Ninjas hired to protect the school. He finds himself hired as a new teacher at Hogwarts. The problem? He is a muggle. DBZ/Harry Potter/Naruto X-over. Better summary inside.
1. Chapter 1

Sorry I suck at summaries, but I'll try.

**Summary: **After Gohan's spaceship gets sucked into a black hole, he crashes into a meeting between the shinobi and Dumbledore. Dumbledore hired them to protect the school, because he's certain that Voldemort will try to attack it this year.

Recognizing Gohan, he offers the boy entrance into Hogwarts, believing that the school will be safer with his presence. The problem is that Gohan's a muggle, and a terrible liar, so he makes Dumbledore a counter proposal. And is hired as the new Muggle Studies teacher.

But things soon get dangerously unstable when it is discovered that Gohan's a muggle. Threatening to destroy whatever unity the wizarding community had before, not to mention their faith in Dumbledore. Gohan must now deal with growing pressure as battle lines are being drawn throughout the wizarding world.

In the meanwhile, he finds himself hunted by most of the Slytherins and a very suspicious Hermoine who demands answers. And to top it all off, Gohan's never been around anyone his own age before, and has to face the insecurities of a child who longs for acceptance from his first ever friends.

**Chapter 1**

Gohan slowly emerged from his slumber. He rolled out of bed and stumbled to the shower. He stripped down, trying not to think. Trying to escape lingering memories that his nightmare had left him with. Trying to escape the crushing guilt.

Ever since the cell games two years ago, he had been haunted by nightmares. Each different. Each horrifying. But they all reminded him of the fact that he was the reason that Goten has to grow up without a father. That he was the reason Chi Chi had to raise another son alone.

His awareness slowly increased as he stripped out of his usual nightwear. Just as he was about to step into the shower, the door burst open.

"SURPRISE!" Needless to say, he was now wide awake.

"Ah! Mom! Bathroom doors are usually closed for a reason." He said, trying to cover himself up as good as the night-shirt allowed.

"I know dear. I just didn't want to wait for your usual wake-up routine before spoiling you on your special day" She said brightly, with a smile that made Gohan fear for his mother's sanity.

"Special day?" He wondered. What was so special about this day?

"Its your birthday. Don't tell me you forgot your own birthday." Chi Chi said happily as she walked away energetically. "Hurry up, we have a surprise for you."

A short shower later he found himself outside, with the entire 'gang' gathered on the lawn, all standing in a semi-circle. Only Piccolo was missing. Somehow Gohan suspected that Chi Chi 'forgot' to invite him.

"What are you all doing here?"

"And I thought you managed to escape Kakkarot's intellectual limits." Vegeta smirked, "We're here because the harpies would have would have played whack-a-head with those infernal pans of theirs if we didn't show." Vegeta was politely asked to remain quiet by a resounding crash from the Frying Pan of Terror.

"We're here because its your birthday, we all wanted to give you something before you left." Krillin answered for Vegeta.

"But, I'm not going anywhere? Am I?" He was starting to wonder what else he had forgotten, when Bulma answered his confusion.

"Well, that's the surprise. Me and Vegeta..." she gave him a cold look, "are giving you a holiday for your birthday. We know you've been somewhat down since... Well anyway, we decided to give you a break to another dimension for a while. We thought it would help if you had a bit of an adventure away from everything."

_That's strange. I can think that Vegeta would want to send me to another universe. Then he would be the most powerful in this one. But Bulma? She can't really think that dumping me in some random universe will help me, does she_?

"We can do this later. Lets eat first." Yamcha's suggestion was applauded by a loud rumbling from Gohan's stomach...

Gohan had to admit, that sitting around with everyone together joking around had been fun. So fun in fact that he had completely forgotten to feel guilty. He was so used to the guilt choking him that it took him a while to figure out why his heart was so... Light?_ I really do need to get out of here, don't I? I mean, if I'm still like this after two years, something has got to change. And some adventure might be fun._

After the dessert had been finished, mostly by Vegeta, the others grouped around Gohan.

"Uhm, what's going on?" Gohan asked the small group he now found himself in the center of.

"Well, bro. We've all decided to give you something special for your trip this year." Krillen said.

Krillin and eighteen had given him a bag full of sensu beans. To his estimation, there was at least fourty three beans. Gohan stared in awe of the treasure. They had always been forced to get by on three or four beans. Did he have some sort of sensu savings account or something?

"I've been storing up beans ever since the first time me and Goku climbed up Korin's tower." He explained. "Since you seem so adamant about being the hero, we figured it should be you who carries it, being the strongest and all."

"Really Krillin, you shouldn't have"

"Hey, I figured you'd sense if anything bad happened to us and give us a bean anyway. And its probably a lot safer with you than that shoe box under my bed." Gohan nodded in understanding.

He understood now. As the strongest being on earth, it was his duty see to it that the beans got where they are needed. He made a silent vow to never use them unless absolutely needed.

Chi-chi decided to give go next. She gave him a soft package wrapped in a velvet cloth. Gohan was surprised to see the nervous look on her face. He had never known his mother to be anxious over anything she ever did before. She was always full of confidence and authority.

Gohan carefully untied the not and folded open his gift. He couldn't help but stare in wonder at his gift. It was a long sleeved gi, but unlike any other that he had ever seen before. It seemed metallic, reflecting many different shades of grey and black. But it was as soft as silk to his touch. Chi Chi explained that she made a wish to Shenron for the gi. As it was made of different metals, most notably katcheen, it could take an extraordinary amount of damage.

"I figured that seeing as I can't stop you from fighting, I could at least try to protect my baby." She said as he hugged Gohan, a few tears rolling down her cheeks.

Yamcha, Tien and Chiaotzu had given him a silver waist sash with gold lines running through it in elegant arcs and curves. It was just as smooth Gohan's the gi, giving the impression of polished metal or silk. But was also thicker. And the inside was covered with velvet? But his sash was outside his gi. Its not as if he would feel it or anything... No, it was only a small area that covered with velvet.

"Hey Yamcha, what's this for?" He asked pointing to the rectangular square of velvet.

"That's a pouch. Or two actually. We thought you might want to store some sensu beans there. Its always handy to have one close at hand. " He glanced towards Krillin, "Though your probably gonna want to add some more now." He examined it a bit closer, why wouldn't it have an opening. He explored with his finger.

"Magnets?"

"Yip" Chiaotzu squeaked. "We wanted to make sure they don't fall out."

"But what's the magnet sticking to?"

"The sash itself, its made from real gold and silver." The scholar was so shocked that it completely slipped his mind that neither silver nor gold was magnetic.

"W...w...w...What?! Where did you guys get enough money for this?" Chiaotzu and Tien gave Yamcha a you-did-it-you-explain-it sort of look.

"We, weeelll, weblackmailedHerculeSatan"

"What?"

"We blackmailed Hercule Satan. Look, I know that its wrong, but seriously. That guy is getting stinking rich off what you did. We know you don't really want the credit, and frankly we don't either. But we just thought it was right that you get something out of what you did." He heard Chi Chi huff approvingly, "I mean, no one lost more to Cell than you."

"Okay... I guess I can live with that." He couldn't completely hide the smirk that was forming. "But, isn't this a bit much? I mean I'm just me... and that's so... well _nice" _He ended lamely.

"Hey brat. Let's make one thing clear. You are going to a place where there have never been any saiyans before. As such, you will be going as my ambassador. I will not tolerate anyone representing my people to be tardy! Got that!"

"Sure Vegeta" Gohan smiled. "Though I thought you said half-breed saiyans were executed by the royal family. If that's true, then the only one left in your _kingdom _is you_._" Vegeta muttered something about brats being to smart for their own good, when Bulma decided to join the fun.

"And didn't you once mention something about those who mated with non-saiyans being exiled. Because that would mean that you aren't part of your own kingdom any more either."

"SHUT UP WOMAN!" That was the signal. He wouldn't be pushed any further today. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted. Gohan turned his attention back to Yamcha.

"Hey Yamcha, why is it so soft? I mean no metal should..."

"Well you can thank Baba for that. We got her to do some magic on it. Come to think of it, its probably the same sort of magic, that Shenron put on your gi. Originally this gift was just going to be from me, but what she asked in return took a considerable amount of time and humility. So now its from all of us." Now his curiosity was peaked.

"Really? What did she ask you to do?"

"Trust me Gohan, you don't want to know." Tien said, with a look that promised death if he pursued the subject any further.

"Aw, now I really want to know" He put on his best puppy eyes.

"Gohan," Yamcha spoke this time. With a similar soul piercing glare in his eyes. "Trust me too, you really, don't want to know." He could tell they were embarrassed by whatever it was, so he decided he would force it out of them later, when there weren't quite so many spectators around.

"Thanks anyways guys, I've never gotten something quite this valuable before. Well, before today anyways."

"Baba said that she magicked her gift into the sash as well. We don't know what it is, so just be aware that something strange is going to happen sometime or another." Gohan nodded.

"I guess that leaves me." It was Mirai Trunks who spoke. He reached into a shoulder bag that he brought with him. "Its kind of hard to follow those acts. But well anyway, here." he handed Gohan an old leather diary.

"Thanks, what is it?" Trunks looked slightly nervous.

"You wrote that in my time-line before... you know..." Gohan knew. He died in the future time-line.

Gohan suddenly felt a rush of compassion for Trunks. Here he was almost drowning in depression since his father died. But Trunks saw all his friends, all his family die. One after the other brutally murdered. No, Gohan decided, he was no hero. Trunks was the real hero.

Gohan was spoilt with a power that only needed to be unleashed. And when it came down to it, he let that power use him. And Goku paid the price. No, he was no hero. But Trunks fought on, despite living in a world of death. Trunks fought until there was nothing left. And even then he returned back to help his mother rebuild their home rather than stay here where everyone was alive. If that wasn't a hero, Gohan didn't know what was. He'd made up his mind. Trunks deserved a break more than anyone else.

"Come with me."

"What?"

"You heard me. Come with me Trunks. You need a break even more than I do. Besides what's an adventure if you don't have anyone to share it with."

Trunks looked at Bulma hopefully. She was wearing an enormous smile at the idea.

"Go ahead son. There's more than enough room and supplies." Trunks face split into a huge smile at the idea of spending some time with his long dead mentor. A smile, that Gohan noticed, did not quite reach his eyes. His eyes still had that same haunted look.

"Anyways, before I forget. In my time-line, you kept a diary. It tells pretty much everything that happened in my time. But the reason I'm giving it you was because you also wrote down everything you learned about yourself, girls and so on. I thought you should have it." Krillin snickered at the 'girls' part, but any joke he was about to make was promptly silenced by a glare from Chi Chi.

"Thanks Trunks, I really don't know what to say."

"You don't have to say anything. I already owe you much more than I will ever be able to pay back."

Gohan de-capsulated the time machine. It was an large enormous black sphere. At least twice as big as the one his father used to get to Namek.

"Wow, what's it made of?"

"Katcheen. The hardest metal in the universe. I got Vegeta to trade for some the last time he left the planet."

He had just said farewell to everyone, and was about to follow Trunks into the modified time machine when a thought struck him.

"Hey Bulma, I was just wondering about something."

"Yes."

"I'm carrying an item that will do something unknown at an unknown time."

"Yes"

"Something that Baba would consider a gift"

"Yes, where are you going with this?"

"Well, what if something happens to the time machine. I mean we all know how crazy Baba is about fighting. What is she alters the time machine so it takes me to a war torn planet or something."

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll be able to hold your own in any universe."

"No, that's not what I mean. I mean what if something happens to the time machine, how am I going to get back?"

"Oh, well don't worry about it. I already added two emergency capsules to your capsule case. Though, they're not made of katcheen, but they should get you home safely."

"Oh, isn't that a bit much. I mean according to Trunks, building a time machine is no peace of cake."

"Don't worry about it" then she leaned over and whispered into his ear, "Once you have the blueprints to something it becomes a snap to reproduce and fix. Don't tell Vegeta. He still thinks fixing the gravity room is an enormous effort on my part."

"Oh, well in that case, thanks." He turned to step into the machine again, when he was halted by a loud voice cutting through the silence.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOUR DOING?!" Piccolo just arrived on the scene. "HOW DARE YOU GO OFF TO ANOTHER DIMENSION WITHOUT EVEN LETTING ME KNOW!"

"Sorry, Piccolo. I only found out I'm leaving two hours ago."

"Mph, well, before you go. Happy Birthday kid." He took out a small package that was neatly wrapped in a white cloth. Not unlike the turban on his head. Gohan was immediately surprised at how heavy it was. He opened it slowly to reveal wrist and ankle weights. Beneath them he found a weight that could be wrapped around his waist.

"I know its not really much. They're only 200 kilograms each, but they will get heavier as you put more ki into them. I expect you to keep training while your there! Someone has to keep Vegeta in line"


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

A scream cut through the silence like a knife. Gohan was instantly awake and in Trunks's room. Gohan fumbled for the light switch, trying to block out Trunk's screams. The sound tore at Gohan soul, sending chills down his spine. He had never heard anyone make such a horrible sound before. It sounded like Trunks was being torn apart.

When he found the light switch, he started shaking the sweaty seventeen year old.  
"Trunks! Wake up!" Trunks just kept on screaming. Eventually Gohan pinned Trunks's arms to his sides in a bear hug.

"Sush. Its okay." Gohan whispered gently. Gohan had to admit that it was a very odd feeling, comforting someone four years older that himself.

When Trunks finally woke up, he was extremely pale, and trembling slightly. Despite Gohan's insistent attempts, Trunks flat out refused to tell Gohan what his nightmare was about. So in the end Gohan challenged Trunks to a sparring session in the GR, hoping to get his mind onto other things.

Trunks agreed, although somewhat reluctantly. Neither of them having any idea what they're sparring session would cost.

***

_Beep Beep Beep._

A single flashing red light lit the dark spherical room periodically. Despite the frantic but silent warning no one stirred. The sole occupant of the _Icarus_ was completely unconscious.

_Beep Beep Beep_

After several hours of silent flashing, a lump in the middle of the dark room stirred. Slowly the black haired boy crawled back to his feet. Gohan clutched his throbbing head, slowly pulling himself to his feet. He stared around the room, wondering why everything was so dark. He felt around the room until he found the light switch. He flicked it. Nothing happened.

_Beep Beep Beep_

He walked to the kitchen deciding that everything would make more sense after he ate something. In the kitchen he noticed something was stuck to the fridge. He powered a small ki blast and left it hovering near the ceiling. He took what he now saw was a note, and held it into the light.

**Gohan,**

**Sorry, about knocking you out. Perhaps next time you'll agree to spar me without the weights on. But I was surprised that you were able to keep up for so long while wearing 200kg weights under 750 times earth's gravity. Thats 150 extra tons! **

**I guess that's what I get for not training in the last two years. But then again, there's not exactly a whole lot training time, when the whole world needs to be rebuilt. .. **

**Anyway, I found a gravity anomaly that I'm going to check out. I took one of the smaller emergency time machines. I should be back by tomorrow morning.**

**Trunks**

**P.S: And while were traveling through inter dimensional space: Watch out for black holes, they're rather common in inter-dimensional space, seeing as they link different universes together. But don't worry, the ship should give you plenty of warning.**

_Black Holes?_

Then the ship started to shake...

***

Gohan had immediately sprung into action. He put the engines into immediate reverse thrust, turned the gravity down into negative values, so that it was pushing against the black hole that furiously pulled on the dense katcheen hull.

And now all he could do was wait and hope that the ship had enough power to escape the ravenous black mass. Gohan watched as the ship's anti-gravity in the gravity chamber sank to -350g's. He already had to fly downwards rather forcefully to avoid being pushed into the ceiling.

Gohan jumped up as he heard an enormous thunk on the outside of the ship. He sprinted into his bedroom. The entire wall was dented inwards. Another THUNK told him that Trunks's room had just had the same experience. He quickly grabbed his birthday presents, and headed back to the gravity room in the center of the ship.

A loud crash told Gohan that his room was now smeared against the outside of the kitchen. Gohan took his time encapsulating everything, while the ship continually shrank as the enormous gravity of the black hole crushed everything together.

By the time he was done, the entire ship had been crushed onto the outside of the gravity room. The anti-gravity inside the chamber rose to -1350 times earth's gravity. Trying not to get pushed off the floor was turning out to be just as difficult as not getting crushed was under 1350 times normal gravity.

There was another loud THUNK, and Gohan noticed that the gravity room's chamber was starting to dent inwards. Gohan created a ki shield on the large room's interior, trying to push back against the every shrinking walls.

As the gravity meter sank to -1650 times earth's gravity, Gohan noticed that all the extra oxygen that was being forced into the room was starting to make him dizzy.

There was another loud THUNK and the room shrank even futher, pushing Gohan's ki-shield backwards. Gohan transformed into a Super Saiyan and put all his energy into his ki-shield, trying to by enough time for the anti-gravity to get strong enough.

Gohan's vision began to swim from oxygen intoxication. It was now or never. In a final act of desperation Gohan transformed into his second super saiyan form. He fired a powerful Masenko at the opposite end of the ship. The metal quickly began to take on an angry red color as it started heating.

Soon the entire ship was glowing with heat. But no matter how much energy Gohan put into his attack, the now super dense katcheen, simply refused to melt.

Gohan fought against the looming unconsciousness. It wasn't helping that the super hot metal was still shrinking. Within minutes, the once enormous ship had been squeezed until it was roughly the size of a large broom closet.

Deciding that he would rather not wait to find out if the anti-gravity would get strong enough, he charged towards the side of the ship.

The hot metal scorched his hands, but he continued pushing. After what felt like an eternity of pain, the super hot metal started to slowly bend outwards. Gohan pushed with every drop of power he had left, barely noticing the metal start to stretch.

Eventually his hands were too burned to push any more, so he threw his shoulder against the hot metal, where it instantly blistered. Slowly, inch by inch, the hot metal bended backwards. Then with a final burst, Gohan shot through the blisteringly hot katcheen side of the space ship and into the cold vacuum of space.

With an enormous effort to remain conscious, he managed to de-capsulate the much smaller emergency time machine, and pull himself inside. Then he faded into blissful unconsciousness.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

The two and a half years that Sakura spent training under Tsunade had greatly improved her in many aspects. She learnt discipline, focus, chakra control and a vast array of healing techniques. But perhaps the most notable thing that she has learned from Tsunade was her infamous _brute strength. _This allowed her to attain a monstrous level of physical strength.

Currently she was using every ounce of that strength to launch herself through the trees. But much to her chagrin, Naruto was keeping up with her. Just what did that perverted old man do to the baka, to get him to improve this much?

The race was now between her and Naruto for third place. Gai and mini-gai were already long gone. Granted they had a slight head start before the others mysteriously got caught up in the race, but with their complete dedication to taijutsu there were very few people who could match them for speed. Neji was in second place. How he managed to get so fast was a mystery to everyone. He seemed to effortlessly glide through the forest at an incredible place.

"C'mon Sakura-chan your too slow." Naruto called over his shoulder, and promptly crashed into the next tree. Unfortunately despite every skill and technique and ability that Naruto had learned from Jiraiya, he was still an idiot. A dangerously adept idiot, but an idiot none the less.

Sakura shot past his crumpled body. Now if only she could overtake Neji. But she knew that there was no chance that he would crash into a tree. Unlike Naruto, he was something of a genius and was known for his powers of observation. Even before he activated the Byakugan he learned most of his techniques from watching others. No, there was no chance that he would make an accident of that kind. And the fact that his Byakugan gave him near 360 degree vision wasn't helping.

She glanced over her shoulder to see if Naruto was again catching up. And sure enough he was now working furiously to catch up to her. _He never did stay unconscious very long, _she thought. Tenten was nowhere in sight. It wasn't very surprising considering the fact that she was the weapons expert, and as such carried around a rather large large collection of weapons, and she had a very slight frame to carry it around on. Most were stored inside summoning scrolls, but the scrolls themselves could be rather heavy.

She turned towards Neji's back to redouble her effort, but was surprised to find that he was gone. Her eyes quickly searched the night-time forest and located him standing on the ground not far away. He was crouching over an unconscious boy. Squinting into the darkness, she could also make out Gai and Lee standing next to Tenten around the boy. They were silhouetted against a small fire that came from a mangled pile of metal next to the body.

She landed softly next to Neji.

"See what you can do for him. I'll arrange some better light." He said without looking up. Sakura placed her hand on the mysterious boy's neck, and injected a small amount of chakra into his arteries. The chakra spread throughout his body, and after few minutes, Sakura began to move her hands down his body, carefully picking up the small vibrations of her own chakra.

Her hands glowed a faint green as the chakra she injected into Gohan began resonating with the chakra in her hands. _Lets see, his heartbeat is at 54 bps, not ideal but at least its stable. His heart seems to have been stressed due to ventricular interference, probably due to electrocution. There are still micro currents surging throughout his body, must have been quite a shock. Blood pressure is slightly under normal, not enough to be concerned about. Breathing shallow but stable. _

Having determined that he was not in any immediate danger of dying, she started concentrating on the less important areas as her chakra started spread to the smaller blood vessels. Sakura gasped.

She was shocked at the number of broken bones that had already healed in his body. None were broken now, but it was obvious that this boy was no stranger to pain. But that was almost nothing compared to the current state of his skin, it was riddled with cuts, bruises, fourth degree burn marks and many of his cells had burst. She wasn't sure what could have caused this kind of damage. Cells were known to burst if they froze instantly, but this was different somehow. It was almost as if they were stretched to bursting.

It was at this point that there was suddenly an eruption of light from above her. She looked up to find an enormous web of chakra above her. It seems that Neji had spread thin chakra threads through the trees above them forming an intricate web, and then ignited it with a simple fire jutsu.

Naruto's shadow fell across her face. He must have joined sometime while she was busy examining this boy. When she turned back to the black haired youth all that damage was clearly visible to everyone, the cuts seemed deeper with the eerie shadows that danced across his face.

"He's not in any immediate danger, but I've never seen anyone with skin this damaged before. It as though he's been pulverized, severely burned and electrocuted all at once." _And something else_, she thought. "I can fix the worst of the damage in about a half an hour, but I don't have enough chakra for more than that."

She looked to Gai, with Kakashi out of commission he was the one in charge. He looked thoughtful for a minute.

"Looks, like our race is over. We'll camp here for tonight" He said with unusual seriousness. "Sakura, see what you can do for him. Naruto, you set up camp. Neji, see if you can find us something to eat. Lee, Tenten, scout around a bit. See if you can find any clues about this kid. He was probably attacked. See if you can find any information on his attackers. We need to make sure that they are not in the area. He hasn't been here very long, so they may still be in the area. Report back every twenty minutes. GO WITH THE POWER OF YOUTH!" The genin immediately sprang to their tasks while Gai gently removed Kakashi from his back and laid him down on a sleeping bag.

***

Gohan slowly became aware of voices whispering softly. He ignored the pain that coursed through his body and slowly opened his eyes, but saw nothing but shadows moving around him. He tried to sit up but was instantly attacked by a headache that forced him back down.

"Take it easy. Your in no condition to move yet." The voice, barely more than a whisper, was unmistakably feminine. He felt her put a hand against his forehead and the headache seemed to lessen.

He closed his eyes and listened to his surroundings, he could make out two soft voices whispering. He could make only make out the word 'nothing' repeated once from a masculine voice, and once from a feminine voice. There was also the soft sound of something sizzling on a fire that he couldn't see.

"Snshbnn" He muttered softly. The words coming inaudibly from his dry throat.

"Shh, don't try to speak yet."

"Seensshhhuuu bnnnn" He tried again. Then realizing that they might not know what that is, he continued. "Leether baagh"

"Leather bag?" She asked him. He nodded and fell back exhausted.

"Guys, have any of you seen a leather bag lying around here?" Sakura asked the others. All of them shook their heads in the negative. "Oh, he's asking for it. Given the condition he's in, it must be pretty important if he's asking for it."

"DON'T WORRY MY YOUTHFUL FRIEND!" Lee said, all silence forgotten. It almost seemed as if he broke something sacred when he punctured the silence in such a blunt manner. "WE SHALL FIND YOUR LEATHER BAG FOR YOU!" Then he turned to Neji. "Can you see anything like that?"

Neji concentrated for a second, and then told them it was in the wreck of metal. Lee and Naruto lifted a heavy metal panel, and sure enough they found a plump leather bag inside a shoulder satchel. Naruto brought it to Sakura.

"Has he said what's so important about that bag yet?" Naruto asked her.

"I don't think he can, probably his throat is just parched. Hand me a cup." Naruto handed her a camping cup, which she promptly filled with a small water jutsu.

"Here, drink this." She gently poured the liquid down between his cracked lips.

"Fanks" He muttered. "Senshu beenn"

"What's that?"

"Insid bagg" She looked inside the bag, which seemed to be filled with beans. Not bothering trying to speak anymore he simply opened his mouth. Sakura suddenly understood.

"You want to eat a bean?" He simply nodded.

She took out a bean and put it into his mouth. After watching him struggle to chew for a second, she took his jaw and moved it for him. Finally having overcome the challenge of swallowing he suddenly relaxed and closed his eyes looking at peace. She sighed softly, and got back to fixing his wounds and gasped audibly. She was instantly surrounded by the others.

"What is it Sakura-chan?" She merely pointed to the patient.

"Look, look at his wounds" The others watched for a moment and there was a collective gasp as they all saw his cuts close, his bruises vanish and his skin returning to a healthy looking colour.

Gohan relaxed as he felt his injuries heal and his strength returning. When he was back to his normal condition, he opened his eyes again, enjoying the absence of pain. He saw the others standing all around him, watching him with shocked expressions. He wasn't sure what to do now. He had never interacted with people his own age before, much less strangers from a different universe.

"Umm, Hi, I'm Son Gohan" He said, standing up. "Thanks for patching me up." Except for the orange clad blond, everyone seemed wary of the stranger that miraculously healed himself. Gohan watched a huge grin spread across his face.

"Hey, I'm Uzumaki Naruto! Future Hokage of Konoha!" He said energetically. Gohan instantly found himself liking this kid. There was just something warm about him. There was silence for a few seconds before the others introduced themselves.

***

Gohan stared into the fire, mesmerized by the flames dancing around. It was strange to think that he was in a completely different universe. Everything around him just seemed so normal. He wasn't quite sure what to expect, but he thought it would be different somehow. But then, Bulma did tell him that she had already chosen a place for him. She probably chose this planet because of its similarities to his own world.

"Earth to Gohan" He looked up to see Tenten holding a fish about the size of her forearm.

"Oh, sorry. Guess I zoned out there for a bit" _Well at least now I know I'm on this dimension's earth. _"Thank you." He gratefully accepted the fish even though he wasn't really hungry. They would probably find out soon enough about his eating habits when he wasn't full of sensu bean.

"So Gohan" It was Gai who spoke this time. "Where are you from? Were you attacked?"

"No I don't think I was. I live in the mountains with my mom. She just thought that I need to get out a bit to explore the world. I've always been home schooled, she thought that might be a bad thing." _Well its not to far from the truth._

"But then what happened to put you in that condition?" Sakura asked.

"I'm not sure really." He concentrated trying to remember what had happened. "I was on my journey the one moment." _In my inter-dimensional time machine. _"And then there was a flash and the next thing I remember I was lying here." _Well my masenko certainly 'flashed'._

"It sounds like you were ambushed. Do you know of anyone who would want to attack you?" Neji asked him, eyeing him closely. Gohan had to admit that his pale eyes were kind of creepy.

"I don't think I was ambushed." _Don't see how someone can ambush me in the middle of the time-stream on my way to another dimension._

"What makes you think that?"

"Nothing really, just a gut feeling."

"You don't think someone may have performed some kind on ninjutsu on you?" This time it was Tenten who spoke.

"What's a _ninjutsu_?"

"Oh, sorry. I just assumed that you were a ninja because of your... muscles" She said blushing ever so slightly.

Gohan looked down. His clothes had been reduced to a couple of rags barely staying on. He made a mental note to change.

"So you guys are ninjas?" They all nodded, Naruto rather violently.

"So what does being a ninja entail? I mean what do you guys do? Sorry, I've been rather isolated at home."

"Well" Sakura answered. "We have a ninja village. And people come to our village and pay us to protect them on journeys, or recover something that was stolen or something like that. But we also have a leader, called Hokage. She is in charge of protecting the country. We're sort of the country's military. She will sometimes give us missions that she feels are important"

"That's enough talk for tonight. We should probably get some sleep." The others nodded their agreement and started heading for their sleeping bags. Gohan searched through the rubble of his time capsule for his capsule case. He eventually found it inside his shoulder satchel next to where Sakura had treated him. He was going to offer the use of his capsule house to them, considering all the effort they put into helping him, but found that instead of the house capsule, there was only a sleeping bag capsule. _Looks like someone thinks I should be roughing it a bit more,_ he thought with a smile.

He decapsulated his clothing and searched through them for his pyjamas. He finally found his favourite set. The most atrocious pair of pyjamas any of the ninjas have ever seen.

After getting changed he de-capsulated his sleeping bag, and flung himself on top of it.

His sensitive saiyan hearing could make out all the others as they fell into a peaceful slumber. All except one. Having been fully recharged by the sensu, he couldn't really sleep and decided to join Naruto who was sitting next to the dying remains of the fire.

"Hey, why are you awake?" Naruto asked him.

"Sensu bean. It fully recharged me. There's no way I'm gonna sleep now. You?"

"I'm keeping watch."

"I'm not going to sleep anyway, I'll keep watch for you."

"No" He shook his head, "I can't do that. You didn't even know what ninjutsu was, you might not know what too look for." He didn't say that someone needed to keep an eye on Gohan as well.

"You think you could show me a ninjutsu?" Naruto immediately perked up at this.

"Sure". He put his hands together and whispered "Kage bunshin no jutsu" Gohan was shocked to see the entire area immediately filled with Naruto's.

"Cool" However the next second everybody was up.

"What's going on?"

"Oh, nothing. I was just showing Gohan my kage bunshin."

"Don't do that! I thought we were under attack!" Mumbling their agreement the others slowly returned to their sleeping bags.

"That is seriously cool. I have a friend who could split himself into four. But I've never seen anything like this", he said looking around at the clones. There must have been two hundred of them. Naruto grinned broadly.

Sitting together next to the slowly shrinking fire, they talked late into the night.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

So far Gohan had learned that the strange group Gohan now found himself in, was really two teams. Team 7 and team 10. Apparently the man who was unconscious with the mask on was the leader of team 7.

"Isn't it a bit unbalanced?" Gohan asked, watching the sun rise through the trees. "You only have three people on your team and they have four."

"We were four, but we lost Sasuke." Gohan watched as a painfull memory flitted across his face. But as quick as it came, it was replaced by the usual grin. "But the old lady said that she sent someone with Dumbledore that will be the fourth member on our team for this mission."

"Really. Who?"

"We'll she didn't tell us. But we think its someone we know." A shadow fell across Naruto's face. Even in the early morning light it seemed dark and menacing.

"You mean you didn't stay in the room long enough for her to tell you." Sakura said in an annoyed voice.

Naruto began to sweat under her fierce gaze, trying to figure out what he did wrong this time.

"H...Hi Sakura-chan. What are you doing up this early?"

"Trying to figure out why I wasn't woken up for my shift."

"Oh, sorry Sakura. Thats my fault. I kept him up all night with my questions." The gaze she turned on Gohan was, if possible, even fiercer than the one she speared Naruto with.

"And your supposed to be in bed, resting."

"Oh... Uhm..." _I'm supposed to be the most powerful warrior in the universe. So why is this girl scaring me so much. _"I couldn't sleep. The sensu bean fully recharged my energy as well as heal my body."

Sakura's gaze softened. Soon all traces of anger left her visage and she flopped down next to him.

"Could you tell me where did you got those beans?"

"Sorry, Sakura. But I can't tell you."

"Oh, I see" She said softly.

"But tell you what. I'll give you one bean for an emergency." She looked up at him.

"Only one?"

Gohan felt his heart break. Looking up into those large emerald eyes, Gohan could only wonder how many people this ninja has seen die. How many friends she could have saved, if she had a sensu bean. And here he was holding what must have been a treasure to her eyes. Particularly to a medic.

Gohan gathered from Naruto that they were living under constant threat from attack. They're village being the concentrated military power of an entire country's military, made for a tempting target. The thought made Gohan's blood run cold. Sure he had seen more death and at a far younger age than they had. But it was always on the battlefield. A battlefield he chose. He chose to wait with the others for Vegeta and Nappa's arrival. He chose to go to Namek. He chose to fight Cell...

But afterwards, he could always go to a home that was warm, safe and loving. The very concept of living every day in fear because of something that someone else might have done, was completely alien to him. The thought of countless children dying, fighting an adults war just seemed so wrong. And now looking into Sakura's emerald eyes, he could, for the first time, guess at how damaging it must be to live like that. It was all there, swimming in her eyes.

And for the first time, he understood why his mother was so against him fighting. Children were supposed to be children. Goten had taught him that. Perhaps that pain, was the same pain swimming in his own eyes. Didn't he also grow up fearing death? Didn't he also fight an adult's war? Did he carry the same scars they did?

How he longed to give her the bag of sensu beans. How he longed to tell her that she could save everyone close to her, even if they were an inch from death. But his father's last act was still fresh on his mind.

Goku's last act, had been to save the planet he loved. As champion of earth, it fell to Goku to make sure that nothing happened to earth. No matter the cost. And now as the new champion of earth, that responsibility fell to Gohan.

But how could he explain to this girl that the reason he couldn't give her the power to save her friends was because he now carried the safety of his entire planet on his shoulders? That he was responsible to billions of faceless strangers in another dimension.

He was broken out of his thoughts when Sakura spoke again.

"I'm not from this dimension."  
"Wha... What do you mean?"

"Dumbledore, came to our dimension seeking our help. I don't know how things work in this dimension, so if you don't want to give me any beans. That's fine too. You shouldn't have to worry about our problems. We have to solve our own dimension's problems."

"I want to, I really want to. But its... its just... its just so complicated."

"Don't worry. I understand. Thank you for not lying to me. I'll wake up the others."

Naruto who, sat quietly watching the entire exchange, suddenly jumped to his feet and faced the opposite direction, his body tense. Gohan was just about to ask Naruto what he was doing, when he felt it. A ki, slowly making its way towards them.

The ki was different from anything Gohan had ever sensed before. The ki was in a constant state of flux, slowly changing from something like the sharp burn of electricity to the slow pulsating heat of fire. It seemed at once peacefull, yet playfull. Powerfull, yet gentle. It was almost the embodiment of everything his father was.

Gohan was so entranced by the ki, that he only barely registered its owner's arrival through the undergrowth. It was an old man, with waist length beard.

"Gai. I'm glad to see you arrived safely. Sorry for the inconvenience but Hogwarts is currently protected against portkeys, so it wasn't possible to transport you straight into the castle."

"Dumbledore, I didn't expect you to welcome us personally."

"But of course, what kind of host would I be, if I didn't at least meet with you first. But, where are my manners" he said, looking around at the teenagers. "I am Albus Dumbledore. Headmaster of Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry."

"Dumbledore, this is Neji, Tenten and Lee. They are my own team mates. The unconscious man on the bed is Hatake Kakashi, and these" he indicated Naruto and Sakura, "are his team members Umzumaki Naruto and Haruno Sakura".

"Please to make your acquaintance. Miss Hyuuga has already arrived. I understand she is to be your third team member for the duration of this mission."

"Hinata! That's awesome! Dattebayo! I was worried we'd get someone stupid as a replacement."

"Yeah, there's only enough room for one baka on this team."

"Heh, isn't that a bit harsh Sakura-chan." Gohan couldn't help but smile at their banter. They still seemed so innocent, perhaps it was possible to be a soldier and child at the same time.

"And who is this, Gai?" Gohan looked up into two clear blue eyes. Staring into the blue orbs, Gohan got the distinct impression that he was being X-rayed.

"That is Gohan Son. We found him last night. He appeared to have been attacked, but we couldn't find any trace of an attacker."

"Mr. Son. A pleasure to meet you. What brings you out this far into these dark woods."

"My mother thought that I should get out and meet some new people. And uhm… I got a little bit lost." He said grinning sheepishly.

"Don't worry, happens to the best of us. Just the other day I got lost on my way to the bathroom. But come, lets sit down, we have much to discuss before you start attending Hogwarts. But, Kakashi needs to be present, I think. Miss Haruno, would you mind giving this to Kakashi. It should return him to normal. So long as he is only suffering from chakra drain." He said conjuring up a small vial with a green liquid inside.

While Sakura administered the potion, Dumbledore conjured nine comfortable armchairs. All seated around the remains of last night's fire.

Gohan watched as the shinobi took their seats. He wasn't sure exactly what was going on. He didn't know what to make of the man's strange ki, or the strangly clad ninjas. He didn't know anything about Dumbledore's magic school, or why they cared about pig acne. But he did know this was a secret meeting. That left the question, why did Dumbledore leave a seat open for him?

"Thank you all, for everything. But I really should be going. I wouldn't want to intrude on your meeting."

"Nonsense Gohan" Dumbledore spoke. "We would be honoured if you would join us."

"Dumbledore, are you sure this is wise?" The now conscious Kakashi asked after having been helped into his seat by Sakura. "We've only just met Gohan, unless I'm mistaken, your about to share confidential information."

"Don't worry Kakashi. I'm just going to tell you what you need to know about this dimension. And I think its only fair that Gohan listen as well. After all he's not from this dimension either."

"What!" Sakura yelled. "Gohan! Why didn't you tell me your not from this dimension either!"

"Uhm...Well... Uhm..." Gohan spluttered trying to find words. Why did this girl scare him so much! "Well, you see..."

"Miss Haruno, lets give the poor boy a break shall we. Unless I'm much mistaken, this is his first time dealing with people from another dimension. I think it would be wise for all of you to be as cautious with that information as Mr. Son was. By the time I conclude this meeting, hopefully, you will understand why we must maintain our secrecy. But first, Mr. Son, please have a seat."

"Now, firstly. This world, is divided into two communities. The muggles, or non-magical community, and the wizards and witches. The muggles are much like yourselves. They possess no magical ability, but compensate for it using whatever skills or technologies they can. They also form the majority of people on this planet. The wizarding community on the other hand, is small by comparison. We exist from our magical abilities, and use a variety of magicks to conceal ourselves from the muggles, who are by and large unaware that wizards exist. This is done primarily to keep the peace. In the past there have been several rather ugly incidents between wizards and muggles."

"Wait," Gohan questioned, "Magic? Is that why your ki feels so strange."

"Yes. I think it would profit everyone if you could explain what my ki feels like."

"I don't know how to describe it. Sometimes it feels like clouds of electricity drifting through your body. Other times it feels like a warm fire, that's slowly pulsating. Other times it feels like whirlpool of power, almost rotating inside you." Gohan said, wishing he could better articulate the strangeness of the man's ki.

"You've described it quite adequately. Thank you. It would be wise for you all to remember Gohan's words. The wizarding community's power lies in change. There is little that we produce that is unchanging. Any magic you may encounter is likely as unpredictable as the energy Mr Son sensed in me. There are laws that govern magic, as there are for everything in every universe. These laws are what we teach our pupils at Hogwarts. But the laws that govern magic are complex and many. You will not be here long enough to learn them all, so I advise you all to be vigilant in your interactions with the wizarding community." Everyone nodded.

"Kind of like predicting the weather?" Gohan asked.

"Yes, thank you. That is a beautiful analogy. Like the weather, magic has definite rules that guide what happens. However a vast amount of knowledge and experience is needed to make predictions of any accuracy." Gohan was starting to wonder just what he had gotten himself into. This was starting to sound like a very difficult version of earth to understand.

"But, thankfully. Power at least remains at least constant." Dumbledore continued. "The larger the changes that a spell makes, the more difficult it usually is to master, and the more prowess it requires to cast. Most students have a fairly small repertoire of spells, so I suggest that you familiarize yourselves with whatever spells you find in school books. Furthermore, only a handful of spells are useful in full paced combat, and usually comprise of a visible beam of light traveling from the wand to the target. So I doubt any of you will have much difficulty dealing with hostile spells."

_Combat? _Gohan wondered, until he remembered that they were hired to protect this man's school.

"But, I would like to demonstrate the most common spells that you will encounter, should you get drawn into a fight." Dumbledore said as he rose from his chair.

For the next forty minutes Dumbledore showed them spells they were likely to encounter, explaining exactly what each spell did, and how to counter it without magic. Some he explained like the killing curse, could only be dodged. Others, would also be stopped if they struck an object in their trajectory. Some curses could be broken with willpower, and others with pain.

With every spell, Gohan could feel the magical ki, travelling through the air. And with every spell there was a different tingle to the ki. When Dumbledore finally sat down again. It was obvious to everyone that Naruto had stopped listening a while ago.

"Uh... Sakura-chan. What does all that mean?"

"BAKA!" She screamed punching him on the back of his head with enough force to crater the ground below him. "When something comes flying at you, just get out the way!"

Naruto slowly picked himself off the ground, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. Gohan was suddenly struck with how similar Naruto was to his own father.

"Thanks Sakura-chan" Naruto said happily, as though she hadn't just brutally assaulted him. _He must really like it when he understands something_, Gohan decided.

Thank you for that concise summary, Miss Haruno. Very well. Lets continue." Dumbledore said, as he re-seated himself. "The wizarding community is divided between pure-bloods, witches and wizards who have magical parents, and those with one magical parent, and those that have no magical parents. As you might have guessed, pure-bloods, often consider themselves better than others because of their family history."

"In particular, a number of decades ago, a wizard who named himself Lord Voldemort…"

Gohan listened with rapt attention as Dumbledore explained about the terror that Lord Voldemort brought upon their world. He was transfixed upon Dumbledore's tale as though a spell had been cast upon him. Dumbledore wove an intricate picture of bravery and cowardice, brilliant plans and treacherous schemes. His tale climaxed when a young boy failed to die, resulting in Voldemort's disappearance, only to have Voldemort return eleven years later at Hogwarts.

Eventually Dumbledore finished with Voldemort being revealed at the ministry of magic.

"So, now I fear that Voldemort will make a strike against Hogwarts. But that is why you are here. The castle's magical fortifications have been strengthened and every student and teacher at Hogwarts knows magic. The castle won't easily fall to outside attack. But…"

"You fear attack from within?" Gai asked.

"Yes. Voldemort has long had a knack for using the smallest of oversights to his advantage."

"So what exactly do you want us to do?" Kakashi enquired.

"Unfortunately there is little that I think can be done right now. Until we know what Voldemort is doing, there is little way to pre-empt him. I think right now all we can do is wait for him to make his move, and make sure that we and the students are ready when the time comes. In any case, I think we have some time before he makes his move."

"Am I correct in understanding that you want us to teach your students."

"That would be most appreciated. Even if they have a basic grasp on how to dodge attacks, their chances of survival will be greatly increased."

"We can do that, and I might show them a simple trick or two." Kakashi said with a smile. At least Gohan thought he was smiling. It was hard to tell through the mask.

"Thank you. Now all that remains is to discuss your positions in Hogwarts. Kakashi, I have created a new position on the staff for you. You will be the first security consultant in Hogwarts's thousand year history. Gai, if you are prepared to accept a teaching position at Hogwarts, then we shouldn't have any problems. The others will enter as students. With the exception of Gohan, you are all sixteen or seventeen?" The others nodded their confirmation.

"You will all attend as either sixth or seventh year students. I fear that they will be first to be targeted should Voldemort make his move against Hogwarts." The shinobi nodded their understanding.

"You must unfortunately all be sorted. It is an ancient Hogwarts tradition, and will determine where you will each stay for the duration of the year. Depending on where your staying will greatly influence the kind of information that you will be able to gather. So you may want to change the teams depending on who is sorted into which house, but I'll leave that decision up to you."

The shinobi all rose from their seats, believing the meeting to be over. But Dumbledore remained firmly in his seat, calmly surveying Gohan over his half-moon spectacles.

"Now all we have to decide is what were going to do with you."

Speared by the razor sharp gaze of Albus Dumbledore, Gohan tried to think of his next move. He should probably try to re-establish contact with Trunks. But his ship and the equipment on it was broken. If he went to Hogwarts, it would be a lot easier for Trunks to find him, given the strange energy the magical castle was doubtlessly transmitting. But on the other hand. He obviously wasn't magical. And he couldn't lie to save his life. Was it worth the risk? From what he's heard, the magical community would probably explode if it was found out that there was a muggle at Hogwarts. Finally Vegeta's words came back to the demi-saiyan, and a smirk slowly spread across his visage...


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

As the small spacecraft descended into the mist, Trunks cursed at his own stupidity. It was his fault that Gohan was unconscious when the _Icarus_ could still escape the black hole's gravity. It was his fault that Gohan didn't know that heating katcheen only makes it stronger. It was his fault that Gohan's escape was thwarted.

The smaller, faster ship could easily have pulled away from the black hole, which was still some distance away. In fact if it wasn't for katcheen's incredible density, it would hardly have been affected at that distance. Almost every other metal would easily have withstood the tidal gravity. But katcheen's density made it vulnerable to gravitational differences.

But at least, Trunks knew that he was in this universe. He managed to get a faint lock on Gohan's ki before the ship left sub-space. The crude device on his ship was good enough to track Gohan as he left sub-space, but unfortunately not any further than that. Trunks was sure that his own ki sensing abilities far outstripped the primitive sensor on his time capsule, but Gohan's energy dropped so low that even he couldn't sense it from this distance.

When Trunks emerged from sub-space, he found that there were nine planets in the nearest solar system; just like in his own universe. And like his own solar system, this one also only had one planet capable of supporting life. He sincerely hoped that Gohan hadn't crashed onto any of the other planets. If he had then... Trunks immediately cut off that train of thought.

No, Gohan was warrior. A child who was already a man. A man who would die fighting in some glorious battle, as his father said all true saiyans died. He couldn't die suffocating on some planet. He couldn't... wouldn't... No... Trunks tried to shut out the possibilities, but it was no use. Trunks simply couldn't block out the image of his sensei, struggling to breathe on some kami-forsaken planet. And the fact that it was his fault Gohan's ship was incapable of landing certainly wasn't helping to improve his mood.

The minute the slow ship touched solid ground Trunks leapt out. He strained all his senses for his youthful sensei, not even bothering to encapsulate his time capsule. He stood there for five minutes, unable to sense anything that felt like Gohan. Eventually he decided that Gohan must be unconscious, or suppressing his power. He would simply have to wait a while.

It was only after he encapsulated his ship that he realized how incredibly thick the mist had gotten. He felt his way past several thick trees and found himself looking down at a small town lying below him. Deciding that he might as well explore while waiting for Gohan's ki to return, he headed down the hill into the town.

As Trunks slowly made his way into the village, he couldn't believe how thick the mist had gotten. A chill swept down his spine. There was something very wrong about this mist...

Trunks had been walking for five minutes when suddenly he felt a large ki behind him. He swung around to face... nothing. The ki was gone, along with whatever creature it belonged to. This mist was hiding more than shadows.

But what disturbed Trunks the most, was the fact that he couldn't sense anything. He was in a town, yet he couldn't sense a single ki, except for that one second when he thought he sensed something.

A scream cut through the fog. Without a second thought Trunks rocketed into the direction of the scream. When he arrived all he found was a single smear of blood and some badly torn clothing on the floor.

There was something very off about this mist. Again he sensed a large ki, but it vanished as quick as it had come. He took off flying in the direction he sensed the ki in. A huge figure appeared through the mist. It was at least 10 metres tall, and had muscular arms and legs, with a small rounded head. It turned towards Trunks and grinned.

Deciding that this was the monster that killed the woman who had screamed earlier, Trunks leapt into action. The giant raised a huge wooden club and swung at Trunks. In an instant, Trunks raised his forearm, and the club smashed to pieces on his arm. He raised his hand and with a casual flick of his wrist blew a hole straight through the giant's chest. Some things couldn't be forgiven...

Another scream tore through the silence. Trunks was just about to take off to help the man that screamed, when he suddenly found himself on his knees. All the happiness left him, and he was left with nothing but death. He saw Tien, slowly getting roasted from his feet up. He saw Piccolo getting skinned by the androids while betting how long it would take him to die. He saw Gohan's mangled body, lying broken on the floor. Countless civilians he couldn't save flashed before his eyes.

He fought the pain with everything he had in him, but the pain, the darkness was so overwhelming that he lost consciousness within minutes.

***

When the teen came to, the mist was a shadow of its former self. Having dimmed to the the point of almost non-existence, Trunks had a clear view of the massacre. Houses were smashed in everywhere. Crushed bodies littered the streets. The bridge right next to Trunks was horribly twisted. Even street lights hadn't escaped the destruction. Most were completely ripped from the ground, and covered in blood.

It felt as though a brick had dropped into Trunks's chest. This was the androids all over. He fought to keep back the tears. Why was life so unfair? Had he really escaped from the massacre in his own world to bare witness to this world's?

Trunks let his head hang down and the tears flowed freely. Oh God, he was so tired of death. His head suddenly jumped up as he felt two of the large ki's nearby.

He turned around to find two of the giants dragging the one he had killed away from the bridge. In a fit of rage Trunks stormed down at the two giants. In a single smooth movement Trunks leapt into the air, pulled out his sword and cut one giants throat. The other one looked up in surprise, just in time to see Trunks vanish. He reappeared instantly with his foot deeply buried in the giant's chest.

Trunks had kicked the giant so hard that its enormous ribcage shattered.

The demi-saiyan watched the two monsters struggle to breathe. At least he got some revenge for the poor inhabitants of that poor little town. Looking back at the destruction, he realized that it was far too little given far too late.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Gohan watched as the castle's lights sedately drifted on the lake. He was seriously starting to question the wisdom in his plan.

Here he arrived on a world in turmoil. Witches and wizards were attacked form within and without. If it wasn't giants, spiders, dementors and other dark creatures it was infiltrators, traitors and back stabbers. The muggles were being slaughtered in their thousands, all they while ignorant of what was killing them. And all this time Voldemort kept growing in strength as his armies swelled.

And now, when they need unity more than ever. He arrives. A muggle, in Hogwarts. The pinnacle of wizard achievement. He threatened to single-handedly destroy whatever unity they did have. Not to mention shattering an already waning confidence in Dumbledore himself.

Looking up at the impressive castle looming ahead of the lake, Gohan suppressed a shuddered at the thought at what he was attempting to do here tonight. He was definitely starting to question the wisdom behind his plan.

"Ano... Gohan-kun. Is something wrong?"

"You ever get the feeling that you're about to make a big mistake."

"Hell yeah!" Naruto interrupted. "I always get that feeling, especially before I speak."

"Baka!" She yelled at Naruto, "Gohan I don't know if you're making a mistake. But if you want to pull out. Now's the time." Gohan nodded weakly. Though he was thinking that if he wanted to pull out, he had to do it before he got into the minuscule boat.

***

The doors to the great hall slowly swung inward, Gohan steeled himself and walked in with the shinobi and the other first years.

Gohan couldn't help but stare at the room in awe. The magnificent hall was lit by thousands of candles floating above five great tables. Their light danced across the golden plates, polished oak tables and a perfect granite floor. The magnificent stone walls rose high into the sky, where it gave way to an enchanting view of the velvet night sky, sparkling with starts.

And if what Gohan saw was impressive, it was nothing compared to what he sensed. The entire castle was vibrant with energy. Different energies drifted through the walls. Some slowly like clouds over the night sky, others darted through the walls like electric currents. Others remained stationary but was constantly changing in shape, size and appearance. It seemed like the whole castle was glowing to his senses.

The magical ki within the students seemed to have become synchronised somehow. Each table had a completely different feel to it, but they all seemed to flow and change with the same rhythm. It was like music that he could sense. How was he ever going to fit in, in a place like this?

Gohan was so entranced by what he could sense that he was only vaguely aware of the names being read out and sorted into houses. But, all too soon it was only Gohan left standing along with the shinobi.

Dumbledore rose from his seat. "Normally I leave my address until after the school feast. But as you can all see, we have seven new additions this year, and I would like to introduce them personally."

_Seven?,_Gohan wondered counting their number. Sure enough there was a new girl standing among them with the same pale eyes that Neji carried. _She must have joined us when I was gawking at this place. Man, what would Piccolo say? I can't zone out like this in unfamiliar territory._

"Through an unfortunate series of events, they have been forced to leave their original school in Japan. Normally Hogwarts does not accept late entries, but given their proficiency in magic, we have decided to let them continue their education in the sixth and seventh year levels. I trust that you will make them feel properly welcome. They will now be sorted."

***

Harry stared at the seven odd teenagers standing in front of the wizarding hat. Harry couldn't help but notice that the blond teen was extremely pale, and trembling slightly. He turned to make a comment about it, but Ron beat him too it.

"Blimey Harry, he looks jumpy."

"Remember how nervous we were the first time. Maybe we're just not used to seeing it on an older kids face." Hermoine put in uncertainly. _Nervous? _Harry wondered looking at the terrified child. That was an understatement, he looked ready to pass out.

"But I wonder what Dumbledore is thinking, bringing them here?"

"What do you mean Hermoine?"

"Well, he said they came from Japan, but Japanese magic schools finish two years earlier that ours. So they should all have graduated already." Harry and Ron looked at her surprised. "What!"

"You read about Japanese schools?"

"It was mentioned in _Hogwarts: A history_. It was really interesting, did you know that..." Harry and Ron looked helplessly at each other. But to their surprise, she suddenly became quiet.

The followed her gaze, to see the pink haired girl sit next to down opposite her.

"Hello, I'm Hermoine, this is Harry and Ron" The strange girl gave each a friendly bow.

"Hi, I'm Sakura. Its a pleasure to be here in Hogwarts."

"You speak English very well for a Japanese student."

"No, I don't speak English at all. Dumbledore enchanted our forehead protectors with a translation spell."

"Really, what's a forehead protector?" Sakura took of a metal plate and showed them.

"This is what we call in Japanese a _hitai-ate._ But its only symbolic really, its to show that we've graduated from school."

"But, if you've graduated, why would you want to attend Hogwarts?"

"We get our hitai-ates after our OWLS. We were all planni..."

"Can I ask you a question?" Harry interrupted the girls.

"Sure" She smiled at him. _So this is the boy that Voldemort wants dead. He seems ordinary enough._

"Who is that boy? The young one with the black hair. And why isn't he waring school uniform like everyone else?"

"That is Gohan Son. I don't really know him to well. I only met him on the way over here. He's very friendly and polite though. Why do you ask?"

"Don't know." Harry responded truthfully, eyes glued on the young demi-saiyan. Something in the back of his mind simply screamed DANGEROUS.

"What's taking so long?" Hermoine's question pulled Harry and Sakura's attention back to the shinobi, who had all been sorted. All except for Naruto, who had been sitting with the sorting hat on for the last five minutes.

No one expected what happened next.

"THERE'S TO MANY VOICES IN MY HEAD! SHUT UP ALL OF YOU! DATTEBAYO!" Naruto jumped up and slammed the sorting hat back onto the chair and made his own way over to the Gryffindor table where he squeezed in next to Sakura.

The entire hall was quiet. No one, not even in Dumbledore's hundred and fifty years of memory, had ever, told the sorting hat to 'shut up'. Every eye was on Naruto, who seemed completely oblivious to their stares.

Dumbledore again rose from his seat and broke through the awkward silence.. "And with that exuberant display we close the sorting."

***

After Dumbledore announced the end of the sorting, every eye drifted back to Gohan. The only one who was still left standing in the middle of the hall. He seemed very out of place, wearing obviously muggle clothing. While the shinobi had all come as students, Gohan had no need for school supplies, and consequently found himself without school robes.

His throat constricted. This was the moment he'd been dreading. The moment he might single handedly bring down everything Dumbledore has spent the last fifty years working for. The moment he had asked for..._ Damn Vegeta for his idea._

"Now as everyone in this hall knows, Lord Voldemort and his followers once more at large and gaining in strength. Its is now, as we face our darkest years that unity becomes more important than ever, that we welcome Gohan Son to our school. As the first muggle ambassador, he will be working with us to ensure that muggle casualties are kept to a minimum. He will also help to build relations between muggles and wizards, and lastly he will help us by further fortifying Hogwarts. At my request he has also agreed to teach the Muggle Studies class in Mr. Albert's unfortunate absence. As many of you may have already guessed Mr. Son, is himself a muggle. But he has earned my deepest respect, and I ask that you will give him time, and he will certainly win over your respect and admiration."

Gohan was surprised at that last statement. He had Dumbledore's greatest respect? How? Dumbledore only just met him. Did he just say that to help Gohan gain acceptance? Somehow, he doubted that Dumbledore would do something like that.

"Now Mr. Son, why don't you join us up here at the staff table?"

As Gohan walked up to the staff table, he found himself wondering why he was so afraid of these kids. He was probably the most powerful being in any universe, so why was he so afraid of these teenagers?

But despite that, he was still a boy. And now, looking out over their faces he was struck with the realization of just how badly he wanted their acceptance, and that thought scared him. After everything he had been through, was he really just a child that wanted friends? It seemed shameful to him somehow. He was champion of earth! Not some child! But even as he said it, he knew it was a lie. He was still a child. And nothing except time would change that.

After what seemed like an eternity, Gohan made his way up to the staff table and sat in one of two open seats. He chose the one between Professor McGonagall and Hagrid. Mostly because he didn't want to sit next to the greasy haired Professor, who sat next to the other open seat.

"Now, I have no doubt that you are all hungry; so dig in."

Gohan watched amazed as golden plates and bowls filled with every kind of food he had ever seen and several he could only guess at. This was a saiyan's paradise! If only his father were here... he would love this. No one could eat like Goku...

As Gohan looked out over the Great Hall, he noticed that all eyes were still on him. Except for Naruto who was obliviously eating food as though he'd never eaten before.

Most had looked at him disbelievingly, some seemed insulted. But the Slytherin table was almost quivering with rage. There was no doubt in Gohan's mind that they would attack him the first chance they get.

"I'd watch out fer them if I was you. Jump yeh firs' chance they get. Would be my guess anyway."

"Yeah" Gohan agreed still staring at the hate filled faces. This year was going to be a lot harder than he thought.

"Rubeus Hagrid, by the way." He said offering a huge hand to the teen. "Don' go worr'in 'bout what they think. If yer good enough fer Dumbledore, yer good enough fer me."

"Yes" Professor McGonagall agreed. "But Dumbledore seems to place an extraordinary amount of faith in you. Why does he trust you so much?"

Gohan's eyes lowered to his food.

"I don't know. I've only just met him." To Minerva he suddenly seemed so small, lost in whatever nightmare haunted his self-esteem. He looked up at her with large eyes.McGonagall wasn't sure what was troubling him, but she did know that it felt wrong coming from such a small child.

Without taking his eyes of Professor McGonagall Gohan casually raised an empty plate, just in time for a hostile spell to bounce off it. The hall grew deathly silent.

Every eye focussed on Gohan, keen to see his reaction.

"I WILL NEVER ACCEPT YOU!" A seventh year Slytherin student suddenly roared out. "DUMBLEDORE HAS GONE TOO FAR THIS TIME! I'LL MAKE YOU WISH YOU WERE DEAD. YOU'LL QUIT BEFORE THE WEEK IS OUT!"

In an instant all six shinobi were on their feet.

"Teme!" Naruto yelled as he got to his feet. "Is that how you treat someone who's trying to help you? Why I should kick your..."  
"Naruto!" To everyone's surprise the rebuke came from Gohan.

"It's my job to bring wizards and muggles together. I'm afraid you'll make that rather difficult if you go and start fights about me" His soft words seemed thunderous in the deafening silence.

"I know that its difficult to accept me." Gohan said to the entire hall. "Believe me I know how hard it can be to accept when something you never thought would change, does. But the world is changing. And if we want to survive this war, so must we."

"But I also know that you need time to accept me. So to help grease the wheels, I would like to propose a game. Everyone in this hall may attack me for three months without fear of repercussions" He paused to let the words sink in.

"Every time you successfully manage to hit me with either a spell, an object or even your own fists, you will automatically win your house 120 points. After three months I will decide what the best ambush was, and that person will win a prize."

"This way, you get to attack me as much as you want. And I will get the time to earn your respect." He said with a friendly smile, as though he didn't realize what his own promise entailed.

The hall grew silent yet again. How many more surprises was this night going to yield? Had a single muggle just challenged every student in Hogwarts to attack him?

"What's the prize?" A second year Hufflepuff student finally called out.

"Hmm..." Gohan thought putting his finger on his chin. "How about this?" He opened his capsule case and took out a single black capsule. He pressed the button and threw it on the raised platform in front of the teacher's table.

A poof of smoke later revealed a pitch black motorcycle. It seemed to Gohan that he'd forgotten how beautiful it was since the last time he took it out, almost a year ago. It was Capsule Corps's latest model. Or at least it was last year, when he got it for his birthday. He could move far faster than the bike, even while wearing his weights new weights, and... he wasn't old enough to drive it anyway.

There were several gasps of amazement. It was obvious to everyone that this was an extremely expensive prize. He re-capsulated the bike and picked up the small capsule.  
"Is this good enough for you?" He asked holding up the precious capsule. His question was met with a roar of approval.

"Very well. However, there is one rule..." The hall quietened instantly. "Your target is me, and only me. If anyone else is seriously injured in your attack, that attempt is null and void, as are all subsequent attempts for the duration of the competition. Do I make myself clear?"

There was a general murmur of affirmation ran through the hall.

Dumbledore slowly rose from his seat. "Very well. I will start the competition at midnight. However, this will not exempt you from classes so I suggest you all get some rest."

***

Gohan followed Professor Flitwick into the small room darkly lit room. In the center of the room was a large circular table.

Dumbledore seated himself in the one chair that was slightly larger than the others. As Gohan took a seat opposite him next to the small figure of Professor Flitwick, Gohan couldn't help but wonder what had gotten into him. How could he do that? Did he really just challenge every wizard in Hogwarts?

"Now before we start the meeting, I would like to announce that we have another new member of staff..."  
"Excuse me Dumbledore" Professor McGonagall interrupted. "Aren't we going to discuss what just happened."

"I see no reason why that should be necessary."  
"NO REASON! A MUGGLE JUST DECLARED WAR ON THE ENTIRE SCHOOL! AND YOU LET HIM!"

Gohan looked around the room. While most of the teachers probably wouldn't have said it as loud as Minerva had just put it, he could tell that they agreed with her. Well Snape looked like Christmas had come early, but somehow Gohan doubted that it was because he thought Gohan's challenge was a stroke of brilliance. Suddenly he felt very foolish.

"They were all glaring at me." Gohan said in a whisper. "I didn't know what to do. I've never been hated before. I guess I acted without thinking."

"Personally" a new voice said, "I think it was a stroke of brilliance." Gohan looked over the candles towards the voice, but unfortunately the bright light ruined any chance of seeing into he dark corner of the room. "He's shown them he's not afraid. He's offered them a game to help them forget about their fears, bought himself time to earn their respect and given them a challenge that unless I'm very much mistaken, they have no chance of winning unless they team up together."

"Excuse me, but who are you?" Snape said in a cold voice.

"Ah, excuse me. This is Kakashi Hatake" Dumbledore said pleasantly. "I was going to introduce him during the feast, but unfortunately it seems he was detained."

"Is he the new DADA teacher?" Professor Sprout inquired.

"No I'm the new security consultant"

"Security Consultant? Dumbledore, since when have we had a security consultant!" Snape said, enraged that he had again been left out of the loop.

"Since today. Unfortunately it seems that the new potions master has been detained. I trust that I will be able to introduce him to the school tomorrow at breakfast?"

"I will make sure that he is there."

"Dumbledore, you have a lot of explaining to do! You suddenly open your arms to foreigners, muggles and create two new positions. When where planning on informing the rest of us! And when where you planning on telling me, THAT I'VE BEEN REPLACED!"

"My dear Severus, I did not want to distract you from more important tasks. You will become the new defence against the dark arts teacher. Rest assured that I have the utmost confidence in Gohan, Kakashi as well as the new potions master."

"Why?" Gohan's voice was so soft he wasn't sure they heard him. "Why do you trust me with so much? I haven't done anything to deserve that kind of ..."

"My dear boy" Gohan looked up, he could see the wet shimmering of tears in the old eyes. "You have done so much. So very, very much. Your father would be so proud of you."

"My father?"

"Yes, Son Goku. A man whom I was very fortunate to have known."

"You knew my father?"

"Excuse me, Dumbledore. But perhaps it would enrich all of our... faith, if you would tell us what exactly the boy has done, to earn your respect."

"That, I'm afraid, is Gohan's story. And I do not think that he is ready to relive the incident yet. But I am certain that he will tell you as soon as he's ready."


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Gohan threw himself down onto the enormous bed. Today was a very long day. It was hard to believe that only yesterday morning, he woke up in his own bed. He looked over to his desk. It was a magnificent mahogany desk. Not for the first time, he wished he could have continued on his path to becoming a scholar. Despite what he told his mother, he loved studying.

He was to tired to check now, but he was sure that if he searched the desk he would find everything he could possibly need. And apparently there was going to be a lot of paperwork in his new position.

In the meeting Dumbledore had assigned him to meet with twenty muggle parents that wanted to discuss something or other. He couldn't remember what their problem was right now. He'd have to look it up tomorrow.

His eyes drifted to the top of his desk, he saw five large books standing on his desk, along with a note from Dumbledore. He'd look into that tomorrow. But for now, he really needed some sleep...

CRASH

He woke up with a start to find his bead completely smashed. It only took a moment before he realised that he'd forgotten to remove his weights. It was already second nature to him to support the extra weight with his ki. And naturally when he fell asleep, the poor bed had to carry the full 57 tons that they added up to. Which was considerably more than it was built to handle.

Now wide awake, Gohan pulled himself from the wreckage and stared at the mess that was once his bed. He was going to have a really hard time explaining why his bed suddenly decided to collapse in the middle of the night. He looked around the room for anything that could give him an idea of what to do.

Eventually his eyes drifted to the note on top of the pile of books. In desperation he read the note.

_Dear Gohan,_

_I have sent you a few books I think you would find most informative. I suggest you start with Hogwarts: A History. It will provide you with everything you need to know about Hogwarts, as well as serve as a rudimentary introduction to some of the spells you may encounter._

_  
P.S. If you need anything, just call Dobby. He will be more than happy to fix your bed._

Fix my bed? How did he know my bed would need fixing?

Okay so how do I call Dobby. After searching his bedroom, he found nothing to call with or into, so in the end he decided to just yell "DOBBY!" and see what happens.

There was a crack behind him and new ki appeared out of nowhere. He was so shocked at the sudden appearance that threw himself to face the potential threat, and accidentally bumped into his table with enough force to send it smashing against the wall where it shattered upon impact.

But what met his eyes were anything but threatening. It was a small, rather pathetic looking creature. It had large bat like ears, and bulging green eyes the size of tennis balls.

He was wearing the oddest assortment of clothes Gohan had ever seen. And the twenty or so hats stacked on top of his head certainly wasn't helping his image. The strange creature bowed so low that its head almost touched the floor. Gohan suspected that it was only magic keeping his precarious tower of hats from collapsing.

"You called sir?"

"Uhm... Yes. Dumbledore said you'd help me to fix my bed..." Dobby looked towards the splintered bed. "It will be Dobby's pleasure, sir." There was a loud crack, and the splinters jumped up from the floor and melted together forming a perfectly fixed bed.

Now that the bed was fixed, Gohan could see a slight crater in the floor beneath the bed.

"Uhm, Dobby. You can't maybe fix the floor as well?"

"No sir. The floors and walls of the castle are too full of magic sir. But don't worry, the castle will slowly repair itself.

It was at that moment that the door burst open revealing a very angry Snape. His glare would've curdled milk, except the effect was ruined somewhat by the very soft looking pink towel that his naked body was wrapped in. Gohan would have thought it funny if it wasn't for the ugly bruises that decorated his naked body. Only the towel seemed to have escaped whatever happened to Snape.

"What the hell are you doing boy?"

"He he" Gohan scratched his head nervously. "I just had a little accident."

"An accident you say." He said in a deadly whisper, "Would this accident coincidentally cause MY ROOF TO COLLAPSE?"

"Uhm..."

"That's it! I don't know what you did to get into Dumbledore's good books but..."

"That's enough Severus." Gohan looked past Snape to see Dumbledore walking into the room. "I have asked Gohan to help me with a rather dangerous assignment. It seems to have backfired somewhat. But don't worry, I'm sure Gohan learned his lesson."

"Yes Sir" Gohan replied meekly.

Grumbling about incompetant morons, Snape went back to his room, which was apparantly, just beneath Gohan's.

"Gohan. I have specially modified the safe in your room. You can safely store your weights there."

"Thank you sir. But I can decrease their weight. I just have to remove my ki from them."

"Oh? Piccolo's design no doubt. He never ceases to amaze me with what he's able to think up."

"I'll tell him you said that." Dumbledore smiled at him.

"I trust that you will try to keep your training regime to yourself. I dare say you will be rather unpopular enough without students perceiving you as a threat."

"Yes sir."

Dumbledore turned and was just about to leave the room when Gohan called out to him.

"Yes?"

"How did you know I was going to break the bed?"

"I have my methods." He said with a smile. "But if it helps. The desk was a complete surprise." He added, eyes twinkling in amusement.

Then with a flick of the wand, his desk was fixed, and in its rightful place. With another flick the books and stationary scattered over the floor, all lifted into the air and landed gently on his desk in their rightful places.

"I wish I could learn how to do that." Gohan muttered, thinking about all the accidents he's had at home when he was staying as a super saiyan.. With a final smile, Dumbledore left.

"Will that be all sir?"

"Yes. Thank you Dobby." And with that the house-elf vanished with a crack.

He went to the safe in the wall. It was open with a note inside. Reading the instructions on the note, Gohan was pleased to find that all he had to do was close the safe, and it would only open to his touch. He was worried that he'd have to tune it with magic.

After making sure to remove all his ki from the weights he stored the weights and climbed into the surprisingly warm bed. Before he drifted off, his final thoughts were:_ Thank God tomorrow's a Saturday._


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Dumbledore sat staring out over the lake, watching the moon's reflection drift on the dark surface. Though it was almost impossible to see in the darkness, a few tears streaked down his aged face.

He wrapped his cloak more tightly around himself against the cold wind, and leaned back into the hollow of a tree. His eyes glanced back to the castle. All traces of light where gone from the majestic structure. A quick glance to his watch showed the time to be almost 4 am. He really should be getting up soon.

"Sir?" Dumbledore looked up into the young eyes of Son Gohan.

"Ah, Gohan. You're up early."

"Nightmare" Gohan explained simply and plopped himself down next to the old headmaster.

"I see." Dumbledore said, in a gentle whisper, as though afraid of breaking the silence.

"And you sir? What are you doing out here?"

"Just thinking."

"If I may be so bold sir, about what?"

Dumbledore was silent for a few minutes. At first Gohan thought that the old man had missed the question, but waited patiently. Eventually, it seemed, he decided he could trust the child.

"I'm dying." Dumbledore said softly. "After all these years. Voldemort's finally won. Just a second's temptation, and he's won."

Gohan didn't know what to say to that, so he sat in silence next to the old headmaster watching the moon dance on the surface of the lake. Finally Dumbledore broke the silence.

"What brings you out here this time in the morning?"

"I thought, I would get in some training. Mostly to take my mind of the nightmare. But then I sensed you, and thought..."

Dumbledore nodded in understanding.

"You have something on your mind?"

"Yes Sir. What do you know about the Cell games?"

"My dear boy." He said with a sad smile. "I was there. Is that what you're nightmares are about?"

"Mostly. But sometimes the nightmare is about the battle with the saiyans. But lately I've been dreaming about Frieza."

Dumbledore again speared the youth with his gaze. For the second time, Gohan got the impression he was being X-rayed by those sharp eyes.

"Gohan. Whatever happens, remember that you did far more than anyone had any right to expect of you."

"Thank you sir. But…" Gohan stuttered. He tried to find words that could justify his own nightmares, his irrational fear of failure or his the reckless hatred he had hated himself with until recently. But in the end he couldn't even formulate a reason in own thoughts, so he just became quiet. But Dumbledore seemed to have understood his silence, because he nodded to Gohan's silence.

"We all carry our own demons." Dumbledore said so softly, that Gohan would have missed it completely if it wasn't for his sensitive Saiyan hearing. "But, I can, at least, help with your nightmares."

"Really?"

"I have in my possession a Pensieve. It is a magical item that siphons of your top most thoughts, and stores them to be viewed externally. While the memories themselves are not removed, your mind will not drift to thoughts that have been removed. If you place your most worrisome thoughts in it, I doubt they will bother you at night."

"Thank you sir."

"I would offer you mine, but I'm afraid that I'm going to use it rather frequently this year. But if you are interested, go into the Forbidden Forest. Find the centaurs, they will make you one… if they find you worthy. But I doubt you would have trouble with that." He finished kindly.

"Thank you sir."

"Uhm... Sir?"

"Yes Gohan"

"What's it like? Dying I mean?" To his surprise Dumbledore chuckled.

"Well, I'm not dead yet. In fact I might still have as much as a good year, before I'll be able to tell you. But your father should be able to answer that question a lot better than I could. Haven't you ever asked him?"

"No." Gohan muttered. "Death never seemed important. It was only after the Cell games that I found out that the dragonballs could only bring back someone once. And by then... it was too late"

Dumbledore surveyed the young teacher for a moment, before he spoke. "Voldemort cannot die. Not until I destroy the remaining horcruxes that anchor him to life." Gohan looked up startled. "I only have a year left to find and destroy the horcruxes. And train someone else to find them if I fail."

"Harry Potter?"

"Yes. How did you know?"

"I saw the way you looked at him during the feast. You really love him, don't you."

"Yes. It seems I've fallen into my own trap. But the point I'm trying to make is this: I would give anything to know that everything will be alright after my death. I don't know what dying was like for your father. But I know that he went in peace. Knowing that he had someone else to look after everything that was important back home. He had you." A few tear streaked down Gohan's cheek.

"Thank you sir."

"Gohan, could I ask you a favor?"

"Of course"

"Would you train Harry? I'm also going to be giving him his own private lessons this years. But I would rest easy if I knew that he also had you to teach him everything that I could not."

"I've never trained anyone before. But I'll try sir."

"Thank you. And thank you for your company Son Gohan, you have reminded me of something I have almost forgotten, but now I must return to the castle."

"Okay, I think I'll just put in a training session before starting the day."

"As you wish. If you don't mind me asking, but you said you could increase the weight of you weights. How heavy do you normally set them?"

"I don't really know. I just tune them until they feel right."

"If you're interested I could cast a spell and tell you how heavy they are."

"Thank you sir. Its hard to know exactly how strong I am, when my weights crush all normal scales."

Gohan powered up to his maximum, and poured roughly a quarter of his ki into the weights. This was more or less what he usually trained at.

"I'm ready sir."

"_Totamemnos._ Hmm, your wrist weights are roughly fifty tons each, your ankle weights are roughly 75 each. And your waist weight measures 150 tons. Very impressive._"_

"Thank you sir."

"Oh, and Gohan."  
"Yes sir?"

"Do try to explore the castle a bit. You might, I dare say, have fun." And with that the old man headed up to the castle.

Gohan let out a sigh, and started running through his katas.

***

"Naruto wake up!"

"Uhh... Sak...ura...chan"

"Don't worry Sakura, I shall wake up our youthful friend!" Naruto immediately sat up, not wanting to experience whatever might occur to the hot blooded ninja.

"I'm up!" Lee looked rather disappointed sitting hunched on the bottom of Naruto's four poster bed. The loud ninja shuddered slightly at the thought of what Lee might have done from that position.

"Uhh, Sakura-chan. The sun isn't even up yet."

"Baka, we agreed last night we were going to meet with the others today."  
"Okay... Where are we meeting?" Sakura sighed.

"We're going to the lake, the wind will make it hard to be overheard."

"The wind will also make it freezing" Naruto muttered softly.

"What was that!"  
"Nothing!"

When they arrived, they found the others were already there. Even Kakashi.

"Man" Naruto stated stated. "If even Kakashi is here, we must be really late." They followed the others' gazes. In the distance Sakura could make out Gohan, going through katas.

"His speed is incredible" commented Lee. "And his form is practically perfect. I want to fight him!"

"Wait Lee. Look at the indentation in the ground." Lee looked down, eyes widening in surprise.

"So?" Naruto chimed in.

"Notice how deep his footprints are." Gai said in his usual deep voice. "He is wearing weights. Heavy weights."

"But not even I can move that fast while wearing weights"

Seeing as Naruto's confused expression was still plastered all over his face. Sakura took the iniative.  
"Baka, it means he's even stronger at taijutsu than Lee. Right?"  
"Unfortunately yes." Kakashi commented. "I got suspicious when I he said that he's lived in the mountains with his mother. Those aren't muscles of farm work. He's been trained. And very hard at that."

"Hey! You were supposed to be unconscious!"  
"Ahh, just like I'd suspect from my rival. He's tricked us into carrying him. Very sneaky Kakashi"

"But I don't get it. So what if Gohan-kun knows taijutsu?"

"Naruto, he's been trained, very hard. Right?"  
"Right"

"But he doesn't want us to know. Right?"  
"Right. But what..."  
"I'm getting there. He was found unconscious just before our meeting with Dumbledore. He mysteriously healed himself. That means he could have 'crashed' on purpose so that we would trust him..."

"Neji," Gai ordered. "Use your byakugan. Maybe he's using chakra to increase his strength and speed. We need to know what we're up against." Neji activated his byakugan and peered at Gohan, pale eyes widening.

"What do you see?"

"His chakra tubes are miniscule. I don't think it's possible to mold chakra with tubes that narrow."

"Then that can mean only one thing." Gai said solemnly

"Ki user." Kakashi finished. "This could be troublesome."

"Really? Why?" Sakura sighed, yet again It was fast becoming part of her job explaining things to Naruto.

"Naruto, in our dimension, ki users are extremely rare. Because the better you become at using ki, the narrower your chakra tubes get, until eventually you can't use chakra. Ki cannot be used to form attacks, and can only give a tiny boost in speed and power. Nothing like the boost chakra can give."  
"So why would anyone want to use ki?"  
"The only reason someone would want to learn ki is _Saishyuu Saigo no Waza (Ultimate Final Attack.). _It turns all the ki or physical energy of the user into one massive blast. The blast is enormous, destroying everything in its path. The downside is that it kills the user. So its only taught to children who are considered expendable."

"What! No! I don't believe that! Gohan would never! If you've seen the look in his eyes when he thinks no one's looking, then you'd know that too!"

"Naruto. We've all seen that look." Neji said sternly "Its our job as shinobi to notice these things. But you need to accept that the fact that maybe that look is guilt for what he's planning to do."

"I don't believe it. He didn't even ask to be brought to Hogwarts! Dumbledore asked him to come!"

"Nevertheless, someone needs to keep an eye on him. Someone should probably attend one of his classes. There may be clues to his motives." Kakashi put in.

"I'm already signed up for Muggle Studies." Sakura said.

"Good. Neji, Hinata, use your byakugan to tell us if he goes anywhere suspicious."

"Now that that's been taken care of. What other information have you gathered so far?"

"Ano..." Hinata stuttered. "Apparently Draco Malfoy has been known to attack Harry Potter. Many of the children in Hufflepuff suspect that his parents are death eaters." The others nodded their agreement. Apparently they've all come across that information.

"Then we should look into him, and those two Slytherins that are always hanging around him."

"Tenten, I'll put you on that. As a Hufflepuff he may accept you."

"I doubt it. It seems that the other houses look down on Hufflepuff, but I'll try."

"Naruto, Lee. You are in charge of following Harry Potter. If Dumbledore's story is anything to go on, then he's likely to be in the middle of whatever is going on."

"Ano... is Gohan crying?" Hinata asked, eyeing the boy through her byakugan

***

As the son slowly rose above the lake, Gohan continued running through katas at his usual, blistering speed. Each form punctuated by a memory. Each stance haunted by a fight.

As he ran through his various forms, he didn't try to stop the tears flowing. His soul was crying to the music of his body. Slowly he washed his soul with tears as every battlefield, every death, every mistake ran through his mind as he whittled the hours away.

Eventually, when he didn't have any more tears to shed, he stopped. His heart feeling lighter than it had felt in years.

He straightened from his final pose, and stood to sound of a roaring ovation. When he turned around he found himself facing almost fifty students, most of them, he noticed where girls.

Gohan paled at the realization of how many potential attackers he had just let in under his radar, especially given his challenge. He was going to have to be more careful when training. The group dispersed, leaving behind Sakura, a bushy haired girl, and a boy that from Dumbledore's description could only be Harry Potter.

He awkwardly made his way over towards the three of them seeing as Sakura was the only person he knew apart from the other shinobi.

"That was beautiful." Hermoine told Gohan with a friendly smile.

"Thank you" He said bowing politely, just like his mother taught him.

"If you don't mind me asking what was that dance you did?"

"It wasn't a dance" Sakura told her new friend. "Those were..."  
"Just something my father taught me." He explained before Sakura could give away any more. "Its supposed to help with... well it doesn't matter now. Now I just like to do it as a tribute to my dad. To show him I'm sorry."

"Would you teach me?" Harry's question caught everyone off guard. Gohan smiled warmly. Perhaps this was going to be easier than he thought.

"Sure, why would you want to learn?"  
"I don't really know. I just moved me somehow. And it looks like a good workout."

"Trust me, its a very good workout."

"Well, I've been thinking lately. If I was a little bit stronger, a bit faster then..." Harry trailed off, overcome with emotion.

Gohan looked up into Harry's eyes, trying to piece together what would come at the end of that sentence. Gohan wished he hadn't. The pain carried in those green eyes was a little to familiar to be comfortable with. He had seen that look every time he looked in the mirror ever since the Cell games. He had seen that look haunt Trunks's eyes ever since he knew what to look for. There were even glimpses of of it in Vegeta's eyes, when he let his flawless guard down. It was a look of pain and death and guilt.

Gohan wasn't sure what happened, but he knew that Harry carried the blame for it. He also knew that it would be pointless to tell him it wasn't his fault. Gohan didn't know, it may even have been his fault. But he wasn't going to deny someone in so much pain.

When Harry trailed off, he expected Gohan to pester him to finish his sentence like any other thirteen year-old would. Instead he found himself studies by a thoughtful expression. In the end Gohan simply nodded.

"Meet me here tomorrow at five am."

Hermoine looked confused between the two boys, as if trying to decode their silent conversation. But in the end simply suggested that they go get some breakfast. At the mention of breakfast, Gohan's face lit up into a huge grin.

***

When the four teenagers arrived at breakfast, they were surprised to find the entire hall crowded. It was extremely rare for anyone to be up this early on a Saturday, especially considering that classes haven't started yet.

"Well, this is where I have to get off. I have to go to the teacher's table" Gohan explained. "I guess I'll see you guys tomorrow."

Gohan turned around only to come face to face, with a glare that nearly sent him into a panic, thinking that his mother had come to drag him home. It took him several seconds to realize that the features where far to young to belong his mother. In fact the girl in question was roughly Gohan's age.

"...Hello?" He offered meekly.

"Where did you get those capsules! And what are you doing in this dimension!"

"Uhm... I don't... know... what you... mean." Gohan stuttered, sweat flowing down the sides of his face. He knew girls were scary, but this one was almost as scary as his mother.

"DON'T PLAY GAMES WITH ME! I KNOW YOU'RE NOT FROM THIS DIMENSION! THAT MOTORBIKE WAS A CAPSULE CORP CAPSULE!"

"I... uhm... I..." Gohan muttered trying furiously to think, but his brain seemed to shut down.

"Miss Satan" A soft voice said behind the girl. "Perhaps you could hold your interrogation of the poor boy till after the announcements have been made." Gohan had breathed a sigh of relief.

The girl eyed him with a furious glare before bowing to Professor Dumbledore, and resumed her seat.

"Now, what do you say we take our seats, and get this meeting over with." Gohan followed the Headmaster, trying furiously to think how he could have known about him. But in the end he could come up with only one logical conclusion. She wasn't from this dimension either. But if that's the case, how could she have come here?

Watching the young teacher leave, and trying to refrain from laughing, Sakura and Hermoine turned to face Harry with identical expressions.

"What?"

"Well, are you going to tell us?"  
"Tell you what?"

"What happened back there. Between you and Gohan" Hermoine explained.

"Its hard to explain."

"Try" Sakura said with a deadly tone to her voice.

"Its like, when I looked into his eyes. I saw... I saw myself."

"What do you mean?" Hermoine asked, her tone softening ever so slightly.

"I don't know. If you asked me last year, I would have said that he's a mature thirteen year old. But now, after Sirius... It was like looking into a mirror. I'm not sure what he's done. But he feels really guilty for it."

"Oh is that it?"  
"What do you mean 'Is that it!'" Harry found himself rapidly loosing his temper with this new pink haired student. "I'm telling you! I don't know what happened, but you don't get eyes like that from reading to many textbooks!"

"What's going on?" Naruto asked as Harry, Sakura and Hermoine joined him and Lee their table.

"Harry said there was something wrong with Gohan's eyes." Hermoine explained.

"So you've noticed it too?" Naruto asked him.  
"Its hard not to notice. I wonder what could give someone eyes like that." Harry said as he sat down opposite Naruto.

Naruto captured the word. "Loneliness" "I would recognize those eyes anywhere." Hermoine couldn't help but notice that Sakura's gaze softened at her old team mate.

"What do you think Videl meant when she said he wasn't from this dimension?" Harry asked Hermoine.

"Don't you remember? She joined in our fourth year. Dumbledore even made an announcement. She's the first student to join Hogwarts from another dimension." Seeing Harry's blank expression she continued. "Well, it was rather uneventful, everything was kind of eclipsed by the tri-wizard tournament at the time. Her father apparently saved their world from something or other. It was after that, that Dumbledore approached her father, and offered to teach her magic."

"How do you know all of this." Harry asked as Ron joined them at the table, his frizzled hair making it obvious that he just got out of bed.

"I'm a girl. We talked." She said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "She needed a prefect to confide to."

"Who are you guys talking about?" Ron asked groggily.

"Shh" Hermoine whispered. Then turned to face Dumbledore who had just risen out of his seat.

"Thank you all for coming this early to breakfast. Unfortunately I must request some of your time for announcements that we didn't have time for last night. Firstly, I would like to announce that we have two new members on staff, who where unavailable during last night's feast. Firstly I would like to announce Maito Gai, as the new potions master..."

The entire hall burst into chatter, everyone wondering the same thing. What happened to Snape? He's been potions master for longer than anyone could remember.

"Professor Snape, will teach Defence against the Dark Arts."

"NO!" Harry shot up from his seat. From his seat Gohan could see the Slytherins grinning.

Dumbledore rose his hands, to quieten the hall. Eventually, he continued "Futhermore, I would like to introduce Hatake Kakashi. He will be our new Security Consultant. I ask that you abide by whatever measures he would impose, regardless of how irksome you may find them. I cannot stress enough how dangerous these times are, we must now stand together and I beseech you. Look out for one another. Guard against carelessness. And remember that Voldemort is looking for the tiniest crack to manipulate."

"It is on this note that I would like to mention that Professor Hatake has requested permission to start a dueling club. He feels it would help prepare you for any dangerous situations that may arise in the future. Anyone who feels they can benefit from it, should give their names to their respective heads of houses. Thank you for your patience now I will no longer hold you from your delicious breakfast. Dig in."

Harry watched as Gohan leaned over and whispered to Dumbledore. He wasn't sure about what. But the old man broke into a huge grin, his eyes fleetingly rested on Harry, giving Harry the impression that they were talking about him.

**A/N: Here's chapter 8, reposted. I changed some things after Otogii's review. Thanks for pointing it out by the way. Now hopefully it will look less like a potential YAOI. In fact I added Videl to the story, to erase any doubt. THIS WILL NOT BE A YAOI STORY.**

**  
I rather like how Videl came out. I plan on giving a more thorough explanation for her presence in this dimension later. Anyway, thanks for the positive reviews. Let me know what you think.**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: I'm not sure why, but the format is completely different on . Every new line is spaced as a new paragraph. But I'll see what I can do. In the mean time. Bear with me. Anyway, on wid da stowwie!**

**Chapter 9**

Gohan was well aware of the fact that this was the first time he was out in public since he issued his 'challenge'. He could feel countless faces staring at him. Each waiting for him to finish eating. He wasn't sure why they had come to the decision to refrain from attacking while he was eating, but he was well pleased. It showed him that even the infamous Slytherins had enough honor to not attack him when his guard was down.

_But then, _he reasoned, _they probably still think they don't need to resort to any dirty tactics yet. That will change soon enough._ _And by then I better be careful, my saiyan eating habits could ruin my chances of winning this game._

As Gohan stood, several other students rose from their seats. It was now or never. As he walked down the few stairs, he counted a dozen Slytherins, two Hufflepuffs , one Ravenclaw and two Gryffindors moving to surround him.

Calmly surveying the large circle he found himself trapped in Gohan allowed a Vegeta like smirk to grace his features.

"Not bad" he commented. "Its only the first day, and you've already managed to unite students from all four houses to co-ordinate one attack." Gohan spoke towards the seventh year Slytherin who was obviously the leader of this little ambush. "Maybe there's hope for unity after all. But you'll need more than that to take me out."

Not a single person in the hall stirred. Through the corner of his eye, he could see Hermoine nervously clutching her face. He could feel a nervous tension growing at teacher's table. Only Dumbledore's ki remained calm. Gohan was grateful for that. It seemed in the end, despite their reservations, the teachers remained on his side. Or at the very least were concerned for his well being.

"Don't worry muggle. We've got more than enough fire power to take care of you." The leader said calmly fingering his wand. "I've got to hand it to you. I'm impressed by your bravery. Or maybe its stupidity? Lets find out shall we."

"Lets" Gohan agreed.

Gohan immediately dropped to the floor in a perfect split allowing three spells to pass safely over his head. He was pleased to see a stunning spell hit a Slytherin directly in front of him.

As if that was some secret signal, they immediately started firing spells at the spiky haired youth. Gohan rolled backwards, hopped to his feet and continued in a perfect back flip, neatly avoiding all the spells shot at him. He counted another three students that went down from friendly fire. That left thirteen...

"He's toying with them." Neji commented standing next to Gai who merely nodded in response.

"Really? How can you tell?" Hermoine asked from her position between Harry and Sakura.

"His eyes are closed."

"What!" Harry jumped up from his seat to have a better look. It was hard to tell from this distance, but it almost did look like his eyes were closed. "Are you sure?" Harry took a step back under the ferocity of Neji's glare.

"Yes I'm sure" He said in a deadly whisper before returning his sharp gaze back to Gohan.

"You'll have to forgive Neji." Tenten said, sitting down next to Harry. "He's not used to be questioned. And in our village he was always known for his powers of observation."

"Get down!" Harry looked up just in time to see a spell bounce of from a golden plate in front of his face. Neji put the plate back on the table.

"Told you" Tenten said with a small smile.

"Thank you" Harry muttered weakly. Neji ignored him.

"Don't worry you'll get used him."

Harry turned back just in time to see Gohan kick the legs out from under the last student. In an instant he had disarmed the fallen boy from Hufflepuff and held the wand to its owner's throat. A few seconds passed, before Gohan stoop up, and offered his hand to his fallen opponent.

"Wow" the boy commented. "I guess you really weren't just talking big."

"You weren't too bad." Gohan said earnestly. "What's your name?"

"Gregory"

"Maybe next time Gregory. And congratulations on being the last man standing."

"That was a complete waste of time" Neji commented. "After all that effort, to get them to attack together, and he didn't even brake a sweat. We're going to have to test him in another way." And with that Neji walked away.

***

Harry pulled out of his dive, and level his _Firebolt, _waiting for Ron to catch up.

"Hey Harry. We better start heading back. Its going to rain soon." Ron called from his own broom. Harry hated to admit it but Ron was right. It was already dark, and the entire castle was lit periodically by lightning bolts. In a few minutes it would be raining cats and dogs. The rest of the quidditch team had already gone back several hours ago.

"Okay. Lets head back." Ron swerved back to the quidditch pitch, where Hermoine and Sakura where happily chatting away. Harry was just about to follow when movement caught his eye. He slowly descended towards the window.

Inside, the room was bathed in soft golden glow. Sitting comfortably in an armchair with his feet up was a blond boy, reading through a massive book.

The strange thing was that the glow seemed to be originating from the mysterious golden haired youth. Harry thought it was strange that such a young child would get a room of his own, when he suddenly recognized the clothes. That was Gohan! But his hair was different, his face was different, even his eyes were different!

_He's a metamorphmagus? _Harry was about to swerve back, when he noticed a book slowly floating into Gohan's outstretched hand. He made a mental note to tell Ron and swerved around, only to come face to face with Gohan. In the darkness he glowed like a star.

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you not to tell anyone you saw that." Gohan said solemnly.

"But... but... your flying! Without... broom!" His brain seemed to have gone into overdrive trying to think of magic that would let someone fly like that.

The next thing he new he was being pelted by enormous rain drops. Gohan let out a sigh.

"I guess this means you have questions?" Harry nodded dumbly, trying to see through his wet glasses. "Well okay then. Lets get inside."

Gohan floated in through his open window, followed by a very wet Harry. As soon as Harry was inside, Gohan stretched out his hand and the window closed by itself.

Harry stood there dripping on the plush carpet, only barely noticing the extravagant room, trying to piece things together. He was only vaguely aware of Gohan pushing him towards the roaring fire.

Rumors about the mysterious Son Gohan had run rampant ever since Gohan had first issued his challenge. And Videl's outburst this morning had resulted in fanning an already raging fire. He had laughed at most of the rumors. But now he didn't know what to believe anymore.

"Take of your clothes." That brought him back to reality.

"What?"

"Your wet. Take of your clothes, you can borrow some of mine while yours dries."

"Oh, okay." Harry pulled of his robes throwing them over the railing in front of the fire, while Gohan searched through his closet.

In the end all Gohan could find that would fit Harry's much larger shape was a bath robe. But if Harry minded, he certainly didn't say anything. But then Gohan reasoned, it might be because he was still in a state of shock.

"Please have a seat." Gohan motioned for the most comfortable armchair, the one he was just sitting in. "Can I get you some coffee?"

"What? Oh coffee... uhm, sure that would be great." Harry said as he sat down. Gohan walked over to a small kitchen that Harry seemed to have missed until now, busying himself with preparing two cups of coffee.

"So your a _Metamorphmagus_?"

"A what?" Gohan called from the tiny kitchen.

"A wizard that can change their appearance without a wand."  
"No, I'm a muggle. Remember?"

"Oh... right. But then...? How did you...?"  
"Summon the book?" Harry nodded. "Telekinesis" Gohan explained. "My sensei, Piccolo, tried to teach it to me last year. I'm not very good at it though, I can only move around small objects."

"So anyone can learn it?"

"Well mostly. Vegeta and my father both tried with dismal results. Piccolo thinks its a saiyan problem."

"What's a saiyan?" Gohan sighed, he wasn't ready to answer that question yet.

"Its not important. The main thing is that you shouldn't have any problems learning it. That's if you want me to teach you."

"Really? That would be great! Wait... Why are you offering to teach me? I thought you didn't want anyone to know."

"Yes, but I'm making an exception for you, because Dumbledore asked me to teach you."

"Oh, did he say why?"

"Not really. He just said it would help him 'rest easy'... Here's your coffee." Harry gratefully accepted the steaming cup, watching thoughtfully as the glowing teen sat down in an armchair opposite him.

"Uhm... Professor Son?"

"Please, call me Gohan."

"Are you really from another dimension?"

"Yes."

"What's it like there?"  
"Well we don't have magic schools for one thing. And were a bit more technologically evolved. But otherwise its pretty much the same... At least I think so. I've only really seen Hogwarts. But from what I've read..." he said gesturing to an enormous pile of books sitting on his desk. "Its very similar."  
"You read all that?" Harry asked staring at the pile incredulously.

"Yip" Gohan nodded.

"I never thought I'd meet someone who was a bigger bookworm than Hermoine."

"Uhm... Gohan, could I ask you another question?"  
"Sure" Gohan smiled warmly.

"If your a muggle, how did you change your hair color?" Gohan stared over his own cup of coffee into the fire. Harry got the impression that he was choosing his words very carefully.

"Its a rather _unique_ transformation. I've got a lot of reading to get through, before I give my first class on Monday. I've found that this form triples my reading speed."

"Triples?! Hermoine would kill to have that!" Harry said grinning at the thought.

"I know." Gohan said grinning back cheekily. "To bad your not going to get to tell her."

"What! Come on! Why not!"

"Because..." A loud knock on the door interrupted Gohan. "Excuse me a minute."

Gohan rose from his seat and walked over to his door, hair returning to usual black color in the process. He opened the door to reveal Professor McGonagall, who immediately stepped into the room with one long stride.

"Mr Son, I've brought your the curriculum for each year that you'll be teaching." She said as she was followed into the room by tall stack of papers. By her tone, Harry guessed that she wasn't too happy with the young teacher. "In particular, take note of the fifth years are writing their OWLS this year, and the seventh years that are writing their NEWTS. And these..." she said directing another stack of papers to his desk are complaints from parents. As the new 'muggle ambassador' it will be your job to see to it that they are accommodated."

"Thank you." Gohan said, bowing politely. "Who do I go to if I have a question?"

"As deputy headmaster, I will..." She broke off, having finally noticed Harry. "Mr. Potter, what are you doing here?"

"I... uhm..."

"He's here at my invitation."

"You invited him!"  
"Yes, is there a problem."

"Despite the fact that teachers don't fraternize with students, its after dark, and a most dangerous time for students to be outside of their common rooms, especially alone."

"He's not alone. I'm with him."

"You! You're a child! What protection could you possibly offer?"  
"I've got a few tricks up my sleeve" Gohan said as a smile crept onto his visage.

"A few tricks! In case you haven't noticed. Its you-know-who we're talking about! Not children!" Gohan was about to reply, when he suddenly remembered his father vanishing at the Cell games. Was he really to going to make the same mistake? Was he going to underestimate an opponent he knew nothing about?

"I'm sorry. You're right." Gohan said swallowing his pride, "I'll escort him back to his common room in a minute." McGonagall who had looked ready to continue the fight stood for a second looking flustered. She clearly wasn't used to thirteen year olds admitting they were wrong.

"Oh... Okay. Very well then. Goodnight Mr. Son"

***

"And the Gryffindor common room is behind this painting." Harry said after he had guided Gohan to the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"Okay, then this is where we say goodbye. But before I go I want to create a psychic link with you. That is if you don't have a problem with that."

"Just to be clear, you said I can still keep secrets from you?"

"Yes. I'll only be able to hear thoughts that you send me. I won't be able to rummage through your thoughts. Its a lot like talking, only we won't use words."

"And I can sever the link anytime I want to?"

"After I have taught you how."

"Okay." Harry said, not quite able to keep the excitement out of his voice.

Gohan placed his index and middle fingers on Harry's temples, closing his eyes in concentration. A few tense seconds passed.

_Can you hear me now? _It was a completely bizarre feeling, having thoughts pass into his head that he didn't think up.

"Yes"

_Don't say it. Think it. I need to know if we have a two way connection._

_Okay, what should I say? _Harry thought. But Gohan didn't respond. "Did you hear that?"

"No. Wait let me try this." Gohan placed his fingers on Harry's temples again. This time, Harry felt a warm tingling at the back of his mind.

_Try again. This time, concentrate on the pulling feeling in the back of your mind. _Gohan's thoughts said to Harry's mind.

_Okay, can you hear me now?_

_Yes. It worked! I've never created a psychic bond before. _Gohan's thoughts were tinged in happiness. Almost as though they'd been dipped in a warm golden liquid.

_Never done it before? _Harry thought back. _You mean you experimented on me! What if something went wrong?_

_Don't worry. I made sure I understood the theory before trying it._

_Why doesn't that make me feel any better? _Harry thought back sarcastically.

**A/N: Well there you have guys. Sorry this chapter took so long. This chapter was a nightmare to write. I'm still not sure I like how it came out. Well anyway, things are a little slow now, but the story will soon pick up when Trunks reappears. But until then I still have to pass a few days. Do you guys have suggestions for anything that I should put in before then? Or should I skip the next week? Personally I want to add a scene with a boggart.**

**  
Anyhoo, please read & review.**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Sorry about the long delay in update. This fic will get interesting soon I promise just bear with me for a little while. Sorry about the lack of things from other student's perspectives like rumors, or discussions about him being from another dimension. I really tried, but found I couldn't write scenes like that. I feel so crippled as an author.**

**Chapter 10**

Harry was standing on an open plane. There were thick streams of smoke rising from several craters around the area. _What is this place? _Harry wondered to himself.

A soft boom drew Harry's attention to a small outcrop of rock. On it, seven or eight people where battling what appeared to be strange blue little creatures.

"Its so nice of you to help 16. But I plan on doing this my way." A frighteningly familiar voice said. Harry swung around to come face to face with Voldemort. "Hello Harry" He said in a dangerously soft voice.

"Harry! What are you doing here?" Harry looked past Voldemort to see Gohan, in his golden state. He was riddled with bruises but Harry still got the impression that he was extremely dangerous.

"Gohan! What are you doing in my dream?"

"I think you're in my dream."  
"That's Voldemort. So this is obviously my nightmare."

"That" Gohan said, pointing at Voldemort "is Cell. So this is my nightmare."

"Wait."

"You don't think..."

"The psychic link!" They shouted in unison.

"Well as interesting as this is" Said Voldemort/Cell. "But I'm afraid I can't allow anymore of these interruptions to continue."

"Shut up!" They both shouted in unison. Harry had never had the strength to tell Voldemort to shut up before. Not even in his own nightmares. But somehow, having a friend with him, he suddenly found the situation a lot less scary. In fact he found it rather funny.

Cell/Voldemort, was immediately silenced. Gohan thought it odd. For two years he had been haunted by terrible nightmares. Nightmares that always began with the crushing of 16's head. But now that Harry was here, sharing his dream. It seemed odd to be having a conversation with his Harry, while his nightmare fought for his attention.

Suddenly both Harry and Gohan burst into laughter. It was a strange feeling, Harry thought. He'd almost forgotten what it was like to laugh. He hadn't laughed since before Sirius's death. But the more he laughed, the less he could stop. The pleasant sound seemed to wash away all the cares that had seemed so important before.

When Harry and Gohan finally stopped, both Cell and Voldemort were gone.

"So, now what?" Harry asked.

"Well I'm not sure. I've never had anyone else in my dreams before. What do you say we start your training?"

"Sure, but will it work in a dream?"  
"There's one way to find out." A grin crept onto Harry's face.

"Okay, where do we begin?"

"The first thing you need to learn is how to sense ki."  
"Oh, I thought we were going to start with those movements you did this morning."

"In due time. But first you need to be able to use your energy, and to do that you first need to sense it. And besides. I think its rather pointless to do physical exercises in a dream." Harry grinned sheepishly. He hadn't thought of that. But now that Gohan mentioned it, it would be rather pointless to train his body a dream, not to mention boring.

"So, sit down and we'll get started." Harry sat down on the rocky floor.

"Okay, I'm going to raise my energy until you can sense it. My ki feels kind of like a beach. You'll know it when you sense it."

"What do I do."  
"Just close your eyes. You won't have to do anything this time."

Harry closed his eyes. He tried to imagine what a beach would feel like, but all he could sense was the cold wind whipping around his school robes. He silently wished he was waring something warmer.

Eventually on the edge of his mind, he noticed something that felt calm and cool, yet powerful at the same time. It was an odd feeling Harry decided. But it really did feel like a beach. If Harry had to describe the feeling he would say that it felt like an energy that was solid and unchanging, and yet in constant motion. As he concentrated on the beachy feeling, he noticed that the feeling kept growing stronger and stronger.

How could he have missed this energy? Now he was having difficultly concentrating on anything else! It felt like he was standing naked in front of a huge collection of people! The sheer size of the energy was impossible to ignore. He opened his eyes.

Harry was somewhat surprised to find that there was only Gohan standing there. Somehow he felt that an energy that monstrously huge should surely belong to a million living beings! Or else something 2 miles high.

It was the strangest feeling, he felt completely subdued simply by sensing something he couldn't see.

"You should be able to feel my energy now. Describe it to me." Harry tried to say something, but instead he turned an odd white color.

"Harry are you alright." As if in answer to his question, Harry turned and threw up on the floor.

"Oh?" Gohan smiled happily. "That's good. It means you're very sensitive to ki. As you get used to it, that feeling will vanish."

When Harry finished, Gohan continued. "Now I'm going to slowly lower my ki. I want you to keep concentrating on that feeling. I'm going to move around, and I want you to close your eyes and keep pointing at me. I want to see how far I can suppress my power before you lose the feeling."

Gohan slowly walked in random patterns, slowly lowering his ki. He had to admit that he was impressed. He doubted even he learned ki sensing this quickly. But then again, he was four, and he wasn't trying to make it as hard as Piccolo did.

"Okay, I can't sense you anymore."

"That's very impressive." Gohan said seriously. "I've almost had to completely hide my power before I lost you. I bet with time you could be even better than me at sensing ki!"

"Really?"

"Well, maybe. We'll just have to see. I'm not sure how your magic affects your ability to sense yet."

"Oh, okay. What's next."  
"Now your going to try and sense your own ki. To help I'm going to give you a little bit of my energy. It should make your energy more visible."

He watched as Gohan stretched out his hand. And then he felt it.... Power! It was running through his veins! It was so addictive! He felt as though he could jump over Hogwarts with a hop.

"Harry. I need you to feel your own ki now. Can you describe it to me?"

But the last thing Harry wanted to do was feel his own energy. He wanted to test this power! He pulled his arm back looking for something to punch. His eyes flicked around the empty landscape, eventually settling on a large rock outcrop. Harry pulled his arm back to punch it. This was going to be so impressive!

_Is it? _A voice in the back of his head said. _Is it really impressive to break something with someone else's power? Was it impressive when Bellatrix killed Sirius? Was it impressive when Voldemort killed your parents?_

"No" Harry decided out loud. He wasn't going to be a fool. He wasn't going to go around thinking that the ability to destroy was an impressive gift. Instead he was going to control the power and do something that mattered. But what mattered? What could possibly matter compared to this kind of power?

Gohan watched as the struggle flickered back and forth over Gohan's face. He gave the boy a little more power than was necessary. But he had to know. Gohan lost his father because he couldn't control the rush of power. He had to make sure Harry could handle it.

Gohan had to admit he was impressed. The power increase he gave Harry was equivalent to a super saiyan transformation. A power increase of 100 times. And Harry had yet to give in to the urge of testing it. Finally Harry turned white at some internal realization.

_He's probably realized now. _Gohan thought. Gohan had to learn that lesson twice. Once with each transformation. Power must be controlled, otherwise it will turn you into a monster.  
"Okay, well done. Now, listen to my voice. I'll describe your energy to you, just try to feel it."

"Okay. I'm ready." Harry said sitting back down and closing his eyes.

"Okay, your power is sort of like red lightning. Its most concentrated over your left shoulder right now branching off, not unlike a nervous system."

"Okay, I've got it. Now what."

"Its going to change now. Keep tracking it as it changes. Describe it to me"  
"Okay, the lightning is fading, but it still feels sort of red. Now is starting to shrink a little."

"Yes, continue"

"Now its starting to rotate."  
"Yes"

"Its still shrinking and rotating."

"Yes, now I want you to try and move a little bit of that energy to your dominant hand."

"How do I do that?"

"You concentrate on that feeling you get from your ki, and you slowly concentrate on it moving. It will move eventually."

Gohan watched over the next two hours as Harry tried to force a bit of energy to his hand. But every time he had a grip on his ki, it would change, and Harry would have to start over. Eventually Gohan felt a tiny trickle of ki, on Harry's fingertip.

"Okay, Harry now send that energy towards that rock. Just point your finger and let it fly."

The tiniest beam of magical energy escaped Harry's finger heading painfully slowly to wards the tiny rock. Gohan encouraged Harry to keep pushing the ki, and eventually it reached the the pebble. Gohan and Harry watched in anticipation as the tiny beam of energy hit the rock.

What happened next, not even Gohan anticipated.

The rock turned into an ant, the size of Harry's fist. And then split in two. And they split in two. And then the four ants became eight, which became sixteen.

Soon there was a small army of fist sized ants charging towards Harry and Gohan.

Gohan blinked. Harry blinked.

Quickly Gohan grabbed Harry's hand and took off into the sky.

"Well that was unexpected."

"What does that mean?"

"I think it means your ki really is magical."

"Does this change anything."  
"Oh yeah."

"How?"  
"I'm not sure yet. But until I figure it out, no more ki attacks."

"Oh... Okay... What do we do about the ants?"

Gohan grinned down at Harry.  
"Let me demonstrate what a non-magical ki attack." Gohan took his other hand, that wasn't holding Harry, and held it in front of Harry's face.

Harry watched in awe as a glowing blue orb formed above Gohan's palm. He could feel the same beachy sort of energy coming from the orb. Gohan casually turned his hand over and the orb dropped on the sea of black ants.

The entire world vanished in a flash of white. When the smoke cleared the sea of black ants, was replaced with an enormous crater.

"Wow" Gohan grinned back cheekily.

***

Harry woke up surprisingly refreshed. He would have thought that all that concentrating during his dream would have been tiring. But he felt better than he'd been in a long time. Evidently his nightmares about Sirius's death was more draining than he'd thought.

He looked at his watch in the moonlight. It read 04:45. _Don't forget out meeting. _Gohan's thoughts ran through Harry's head. _What meeting? _He thought back. _Remember when you asked me to teach you that dance? I said 'Be at the lake at five'._

_Oh, I thought that you'd let me sleep, considering that we trained all night._

_Well okay. I just thought you'd want to learn how to fly. Besides I'm in the mood for a good work out._

_***_

By the time that Harry made it to the lake he found Gohan was already there, waiting patiently for him.

"Am I late?"

"No, you're right on time. Okay, today were going to do something different. Now, can you still detect my energy?" Harry closed his eyes for a second before nodding.

"Excellent. Now I'm going to run through those katas I did the other day slowly. I just want you to sense my energy. Tell me what's happening."

Harry concentrated as Gohan slowly performed his 'dance' routine. Following the energy in his mind.

"Okay" Gohan said stopping. "What did I do?"

"Your energy kept moving around in your body. When ever you moved, your entire body's energy shifted."

"Yes. Exactly. Now you're going to do the same thing."

"I've made these for you." Gohan said holding up wrist and ankle weights.

"You're going to wear these. Put them on first. Then we'll talk."

Harry nervously put on the weights. They must have been thirty kilograms each!

"How am I supposed to move in these things?" Harry asked as he felt the weight pull at his arms and legs.

"We'll start simply. Try to lift your arm." Harry tried. His arm twitched a bit, but otherwise remained in exactly the same position.

"Now, what I want you to do, is move all your energy into your arm." Harry struggled for twenty minutes trying to get his ki to move into his arm, but he seemed to fair far better than yesterday.

"Excellent" Gohan complimented. "Now try to lift your arm."

To Harry's surprise the weight lifted easily.

"And that is the use of ki. Now move your ki to your other arm and lift that one." This time it took Harry fifteen minutes before he lifted the weight.

"Okay. Now your ready for the next step!" Gohan said enthusiastically. "I'm going to go through my katas very slowly. I want you to mimic me. Move your ki wherever you want to, just keep following my movements."

The next two hours Harry tried desperately trying to mimic Gohan's rigid movements. But his own movements were a far cry from Gohan's perfect stance. His limbs kept shaking from effort, and he spent a lot of energy trying to force his ki to go to where it was needed. But the problem was it, seemed to be needed everywhere. He just didn't have enough energy to keep lifting the heavy weights. Though, Harry thought, he might have done better if it wasn't for the large crowd that had showed up to watch them towards the end.

Their laughter and comments certainly didn't help his concentration.

After the two hours have passed, Gohan seemed satisfied, and with enormous pleasure Harry took of the torturous weights and joined Ron and Hermoine for breakfast. The crowd was even bigger this morning than yesterday. No doubt all hoping to see a repeat of Gohan's spectacular performance.

***

Gohan traveled deep into the Forbidden forest. According to Dumbledore, the centaurs should be somewhere around here. He heard a whistling behind him. He turned around just in time to see the arrow penetrate deep into the tree next to him.

"Another human. When will your kind learn that you are unwanted here." Gohan watched a single centaur step out into the clearing. But he could feel a hundred similar ki hiding in the branches just beyond his clearing. He had no doubt that they would try to spear him if he gave them even half a chance.

"I apologize wise centaur." Gohan said bowing low. "But I come seeking your help." Another centaur stepped out from amongst the trees. This one's chest was marked with battlescars, and Gohan could see that one of its eyes were patched.

"And what help could we possibly be to one such as yourself." The older centaur said.

"I require a pensieve." Both centaurs gasped, and he could feel all the other ki grow restless with anger.

"You ask a great service. The pensieve is one of our most trusted secrets. Why would we just give it to you?"

"I am willing to perform any service you deem worthy of such a prize" Gohan said humbly. _And if __that doesn't work, I'll trade you for it._

"And what makes you think that you have something we desire?"

"I come from a far off place. There are many things that I could trade."

"FOOL!" The younger centaur yelled as it pawed the ground. "You speak as a human. We have no wants. Our only desire is to study the stars. You think we can be bartered with like common hags?"

"Calm yourself Firenze. The boy meant no disrespect."  
"He underestimates us. You can see it in his arrogant stance. He thinks us all pretty horses!"

"Forgive him. He is young." The older centaur said. But Gohan could tell this was going downhill fast. So, thinking quickly spoke.

"I know that you are a warrior people." Gohan said, hoping they thought like Vegeta. "I know another warrior. A man by the name of Vegeta. Watching him I have come to learn that pride is of the utmost importance to warriors. Without it they have nothing." Gohan said wincing at his own words.

"What you speak is true." Firenze said. "Continue"

"I cannot offer you pride. If you are mighty warriors as Dumbledore claims, you already have it. If you do not. Nothing I can give will save you from your pathetic existence." Gohan could feel the other centaur's anger at his statement. Eager to prove themselves mighty warriors.

"But what I can offer is my own humble service. I am very strong, and would be honored to serve such mighty warriors as yourselves. I only ask for the chance to prove myself."

The older centaur laughed.

"You speak well. There are no doubt few that can resist your words. Especially not coming from a cub such as yourself. But we are a people of action. We do not judge based on words. We judge based on actions. It so happens that we have a disagreement with the spiders that inhabit this forest. You shall act as our mediator, since they killed the last one. If you survive, we shall speak again of your pensieve."

"Baurus, are you sure?" A female centaur said as she walked into the clearing. "You are asking a single wizard child to walk into a nest of Acromantula. Surely this is too great a task for even a mighty centaur warrior. Do you wish the child's death?"  
"He asks for a pensieve. That is what it will cost him. We do not give away our treasures lightly. But if he feels he is unable to complete the task, he may of course choose to return to his kind and never return."

"I will do as you ask." Gohan said confidently. "Where may I find these spiders."

"Head west. Three hours walk into the woods they will find you. Say you wish to speak with Arannia. She is their leader, they will take you to her."

***

Gohan was getting tired of walking. He wished he could just fly to these damn spiders, but no, they had to find him. He hopped over another fallen tree, when he felt it. Two very large ki walking directly towards him. He stopped.

"You can come out now. I know you're there." He called into the shadows.

"Ah, another human. Its been so long since we had human flesh." A clickty voice whispered.

"I come in peace. I wish to speak to Arannia. I come with a proposal from the centaurs."

"So they send another to do their bidding. They fear to engage with us face to face." The second spider breathed.

"Do not think them too cowardly" Gohan answered. "I asked them for this task. To prove myself worthy to them."

"So you would willingly walk to your death, while defending those who sent you there. You are a strange one." The first spider said, now towering over Gohan. "Very well we shall take you to her."

The spider lowered its enormous head towards Gohan and seized his ankle in its mandibles carrying him upside down. Gohan could have broken free easily enough, he just had to stop supporting his enormously heavy weights with his ki. But somehow Gohan didn't think that would do the negotiations any good.

After about a half an hour, Gohan found himself in the center of an enormous nest of the giant spiders.

The largest one spoke first.  
"Alectus. What have you brought us today?"

"A human. He's serving as the new negotiator sent by the centaurs."  
"So they are to cowardly to send one of their own. Figures."  
"As I've told the other two spiders. Do not think them too cowardly, I came requesting a chance to prove myself."

"Silence! Do not speak unless spoken to!" Another voice hissed.

"Sorry. I didn't know." Gohan apologized.

"So, what offer has the centaurs made this time." Gohan opened the scroll the spiders gave him and read:

**We, the centaurs, have agreed that in addition to the previous agreement you may also dwell in the land between the Forbidden and Sweet Thorn** **rivers. In addition we will end all hostilities towards Spiders staying in the Shadowrest area.**

"That's an outrage!" The spider Gohan assumed to be Arianna screamed.

"They give us half of what we asked for and offer to stop hostilities towards spiders that have dwelt in Shadowrest. Our oldest brethren have lived there since the start of the forest. And they expect us to be grateful! Human now you will die! That will be our message to their 'agreement'.

"Wait just a second." Gohan said calmly, trying to re-establish control over the situation. "What exactly is the problem? Maybe I can help?" He offered helpfully.

"Don't worry your death will help enough." Suddenly a huge pair of mandibles descended out of the air and gripped Gohan's head in its vice-like grip.

_Okay they want to play rough. I'll show them. _He stopped supporting his weights and stiffened his body. He could feel the large mandibles try to break his neck. It was completely useless. They might as well have blinked at him for all the difference it made.

"What is taking so long." Arianna asked, getting bored.

"His neck won't break!" The spider hissed in annoyance. "It won't even budge."

"I'm not done speaking yet." Gohan said in a slightly annoyed tone. "If you value your life, grunt. You will let go of my head this instance."

There was a general clicking that sounded oddly like laughter. He hated doing this, but he could tell these creatures couldn't be reasoned with. He raised his hand.

There was a bang, and the spider that tried to kill him was suddenly splattered all over the trees as well as the other spiders.

"Now that I have your attention. Perhaps you can tell me what the problem is." Gohan asked in a friendly tone.

Arianna looked at him through her creepy eight eyes. Gohan wished he could read the inhuman emotion behind them.

"Perhaps you can help. Ever since the giant has moved into the forest, our territory has been shrinking slowly. If you can get rid of the giant, all our border disputes will be solved."

"I'll look into it. But I won't murder any innocents."

"Have it your way. Just get rid of him."

"Which way is the giant?"

"South. Keep going south and you won't miss him."

Gohan shot into the sky. There was no way he was going to waste even more time walking throught the forest. He still had three classes to prepare for tomorrow.

Within seconds he found the large ki. He descended quickly, landing with a soft thud behind the enormous creature. That was when he noticed the second ki. Hagrid was here.

"Hey Hagrid!" Gohan called out as he walked to meet Grawp fearlessly.

"Gohan! Watcha doin all de way ou' here?"

"Its a long story. But the short version is that all the centaurs and spiders are fighting over territory. I need to to get the giant out of the forest."

"But Grawpy's never hurt no one."

"He doesn't have to. The spiders and centaurs are too scared to get close to him. And the more he moves around the less territory they have to move around in. I'm afraid they're on the verge to breaking out in war."

Hagrid sighed.

"I was 'fraid it 'd come to dat."

***

Gohan was exhausted. He flopped down on his bed with his new pensieve. It took him another three round trips between the centaurs, spiders and Hagrid before he found a cave outside the forest that Hagrid found acceptable for 'Grawp'.

But it was worth it. He thought as he looked at the stone basin with a druid's runes carved into the side. A night without nightmares... Was that really possible. It seemed like such a long time since the last time that he had had an undisturbed night's sleep. Well, that wasn't entirely accurate. Last night didn't quite qualify for a nightmare. But still, he looked forward to a night's dreamless sleep.

The spiders thought him a coward for not just killing the giant, but at least he thought he'd won over the centaurs. But right now he was exhausted, and he still had Harry's training tomorrow morning. Not to mention that he still had to prepare for his classes.

He slowly forced his way up from the bed and trudged over to the safe, storing his weights safely inside. Before making his way back to his bed.

He sat down on the bed in a meditative position, and thought of everything that usually haunted his nightmares. He put the pensieve in his lap, slowly rotating it anti-clockwise. Slowly his thoughts began to blur into one another, until it all seemed to be a single smear of colour. Then that too began to fade, until he was left with nothing but his vision.

Gohan looked down at the pensieve. He saw his thoughts floating in the stone basin. Neither liquid nor gas, they drifted, floated and swirled inside the basin. He immediately knew it had worked. Without another thought be put the basin on his desk, climbed into bed and drifted off into a sweet dreamless sleep... Completely forgetting to prepare for his classes the following day.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Only a soft trickle of moonlight made it to the forest floor. The moldy smell of decomposing leaves filled the still night air. Trunks remained motionless on his small pile of leaves as he watched the branches swaying overhead. _Its already been three days. Three days, and still, no trace of Gohan._

He had always felt it was his fault that Gohan had died in his own timeline, and as a result he felt very protective towards the young child. Despite his power, Gohan was still a child, and there were some things that not even Gohan's monumental power could protect him from. _If only I hadn't disabled the autopilot... Gohan might have been brought to this planet. _But now... Now all Trunks had was hope. Hope that Gohan somehow managed to land on the one planet capable of supporting life.

But after three days, he had yet to feel a flicker of ki from the young powerhouse. Gohan was smart, he would know to keep his power-level high enough to be felt from anywhere on the planet. The fact that Trunks couldn't sense him could only mean...

_NO! _He was new to this dimension, there might be something blocking Gohan's ki. The mist after all had very effectively hidden the giants' ki. That was, in fact, the reason he was in this forest.

He had felt a ki mysteriously appear out of nowhere only to disappear a few minutes later. Then another ki appeared, and disappeared. Then another. So, Trunks came to this forest where he felt them last, hoping to get some answers from someone.

But after three hours, he had yet to feel sense anything out of the ordinary. As he waited under the large trees, Trunks thoughts drifted back to the Room of Spirit and Time. He had never dreamed that anything could be as difficult as it was to survive in that room. It was no wonder Goku could only take a month inside that room the first time. But despite that, it was the best time of his life.

A whole year... With his dad.

Despite Vegeta's stubbornly cold attitude, he drunk in his father's technique. Studied his style extensively. He was so calculating, so refined, so strategic. But Trunks knew the real reason he watched his father so hungrily during that time, was not because he wanted to learn. But because he knew that one day he would have to return to a world, where he had no father.

When he had entered the Room of Spirit and Time for the second time, his own power barely increased. Perhaps that's why Gohan and Goku came out early. Perhaps they sensed that they too had reached their own limits as well. It made sense. There was only so much power a body could hold after all. The other Z-Senshi had already reached their own respective limits.

But Gohan was only eleven when he revealed the monstrous power that was within him. Even in his first Super Saiyan transformation the amount of power he possessed was... surreal. But in his second transformation, the power was... was... something altogether different. Despite sensing ki since the age of three, he almost passed out just from trying to sense Gohan's power-level.

Even Cell's sensors seemed unable to articulate to the android just exactly how powerful the boy was. If Cell really knew how powerful Gohan's second transformation was, he wouldn't have stayed to fight him like he did.

Or maybe he would have. He did have some of Vegeta in him after all.

Trunks was suddenly jerked out of his ponderings by two strange ki that he felt appearing out of nowhere. Then two more appeared, then two more. After a brief pause a last ki appeared. Trunks got up off his makeshift bed and hovered towards the group that had mysteriously appeared out of nowhere.

Squinting through the dark, he saw seven robed figures walking through the darkness under the trees. Trunks cautiously suppressed his ki as low as it could go and hovered behind the group, darting from tree to tree.

After a few minutes, Trunks felt a ki-shield of sorts ahead of him. But it was different to anything he's ever sensed before. It reminded him of a soap bubble. It was indescribably weak, on the very limit of his sensing abilities. But the weak shield was constantly changing and drifting like the rainbow colors on the surface of a bubble.

The robed figures didn't even look up at the shield. They merely passed through it as though it wasn't there. Trunks had never seen a ki shield let something through before. Normally it would stop everything from entering, or break. And yet, the thin soapy ki was still in place.

Trunks took a breath and stepped into the ki shield, only to pass through as though nothing was there. He sped up a little and quickly caught up with the mysterious group. In the dark, he could make out a silhouette between the trees. He wasn't sure if the others could see the dark shape, but they were heading right for it.

The silhouette slowly took shape as they approached. Eventually Trunks could make out that it was an old cottage. A very small one that looked quite abandoned. But somehow Trunks suspected that was why they were using it. When they arrived, the group formed a line, and entered one by one.

Trunks knew that he couldn't enter without being seen. After looking around for a few minutes, he made his decision. He flew up to the roof, landing as quietly as he could, still supporting half his weight with his ki. He didn't want the roof to collapse out from under him.

He used a small ki beam to burn a peeping hole through the rotten would. He put his eye to the small hole and had to bite back a gasp of surprise. He could only see a small part of the cottage's inside. But even through the miniscule hole he could see the room was A LOT bigger on the inside than it was on the outside.

Right beneath him was a large circular table. Trunks could only see two people at the table. Both had pale blond hair and were wearing masks with skulls on.

"I see Snape still hasn't arrived." A cold voice said drifting up through the small hole. "Very well. We shall wait for a few minutes."

"Until he arrives, I think I will entertain myself." The cold voice said softly. "Lucius. Will you do the honors? Fetch our dear guest Mr. Albert for me."  
"Y...Y... Yes, My Lord" Lucius stammered. Trunks watched as the blond man got up from his seat and walked out of his limit view.

There was silence for a minute, before he heard footsteps, climing what sounded like stairs. An unconscious body preceded Lucius into Trunks's field of view. The body was floating in mid air, and came to a stop right above the table, hanging upside down, revolving slowly as if suspended by an invisible rope.

"Turn around, slowly." A voice hissed into Trunks ear. Trunks turned around to only to come face to face with a thin wooden stick. Judging by the expression the greasy haired man who wielded it, it was obviously a weapon. Trunks froze considering his options.

"Who are you?" The greasy man whispered.

Trunks didn't know what to say, he'd just been caught red handed. But the greasy haired still waited for an answer.

"If you want to live, you better answer my question." Snape said in a deadly whisper.

"I'm Trunks." Trunks said simply.

"What are you doing here?" This was it. The question that would decide what happens next.

"I'm trying to figure out what the hell is going on. I'm trying to see if I can find out more about the giants that attacked that small town."

"That was you?" The greasy haired man asked as he carefully looked over the teenager.

Trunks remained silent. He still didn't know if these people were with the giants or not.

"Answer me boy!" Snake hissed. Trunks nodded.

"Yes that was me. You got a problem with that?"

The man looked at Trunks thoughtfully for a second.

"Stay here. Keep low, and keep quiet." Snape said in a hurry. "If you're lucky, you might hear something of... interest." Before Trunks could ask him what he meant. The greasy haired man hopped down the side of the cottage.

The stranger hesitated for a minute. He reached out to touch the handle. When...

"Snape! Thank goodness! I thought I was late." Snape nodded in his direction and the two entered the wooden structure.

"Yaxley. Snape," said a high, clear voice from the head of the table. "You are very nearly late." Trunks made another hole in the roof so that he could see the speaker. The speaker was seated directly in front of a fireplace, so that it was difficult, at first, for Trunks to make out more than his silhouette. When his eyes adjusted, however, Trunks could see that his face shone through the gloom, hairless, snake-like, with slits for nostrils and gleaming red eyes whose pupils were vertical. He was so pale that he seemed to emit a pearly glow.

"Severus, here," said Voldemort, indicating the seat on his immediate right. "Yaxley – beside Dolohov." The two men took their alloted places. Most of the eyes around the table followed Snape and it was to him that Voldemort spoke first.

"So?"

"My Lord" said Snape, "I have information regarding the new muggles at Hogwarts."

"Muggles? There's more than one?" Bellatrix asked, shaking with barely repressed rage.

"Yes. The foreigners in addition to the new teacher are all muggles. It seems that Dumbledore places a great deal of faith in these muggles to protect Hogwarts. He is convinced that you are going to attack the school in the immediate future."

"So" Voldemort said softly, as if to himself. "He knows what I seek. He knows what I will do to attain it, and still he withholds it from me!" Everyone froze at Voldemort's outburst.

"My Lord, if I may?" Snape eventually. Voldemort nodded. "I have performed passive legilimency on both the new teacher, and the foreigners. For the most part their mental barriers seem secure, but I have managed to gleam a great deal of information from the blond foreigner."

"We'll get to him later. What have you learned about the new muggle teacher?"

"Very little, my lord. His own mental barriers are pathetic. I doubt he could even lie to save his life. But his mind, although unprotected, is extremely complex. I understand that he was traveling to another dimension, when he crashed in this one. But beyond that there is little among his thoughts that make any deal of sense." Voldemort inclinded his head in interest.

Correctly interpreting the gesture, Snape continued.

"My lord, his mind is a complicated mishmash of ideas. I saw thoughts of flying clouds, dragons, magic balls and something about a cell. It is difficult to determine what is real and what is fabricated."

"Do you believe he poses a threat to my plans?"

"I don't know, my lord. But so far he has shown no real abilities other than a surprising amount of agility. What concerns me is the ninja"

"Ninja?"  
"Yes, my Lord. Dumbledore went through a great deal of trouble to contact them from another dimension."

"Yes" Voldemort agreed. "If Dumbledore would risk creating an inter-dimensional portal for them, it would be foolish to underestimate them. And what have you learnt when you skimmed the minds of these ninja?"

"As I've said, their minds, for the most part is secure. They've obviously been well trained in deception. But, as I've said, I've managed to gleam a considerable amount of information from the blond ninja."

"Apparently he's made powerful enemies in his home dimension. One of them in particular caught my attention. A man by the name of Uchiha Itachi. He has been known to put people in a coma, simply by making eye contact."

Voldemort inclined his head in interest.

"And you believe these _ninja_ possess similar abilities?"

"From what I've gather they each have powerful abilities. However I could not learn what without making a more aggressive Legilimency scan. And they would doubtlessly have felt that."

"I see" Voldemort said thoughtfully, "Do you feel that these _ninja _could prove to be a problem later?"

"My lord, I don't know. But when I searched through the blond ninja's thoughts I felt another presence. One that feels both ancient and evil, beyond anything I've ever felt before. I believe the boy's mind holds something other than his own thoughts."

There was silence for a few seconds, before Voldemort spoke.

"Dumbledore would not have punched a hole through dimensions for simpletons. An inter-dimensional portal is temperamental at best. What concerns me is the muggle. You say Dumbledore trusts him? If he really is from another dimension, there's no telling what abilities he may posess. Severus, I want you to test him. The more we know about these strangers the better. I've underestimated Dumbledore too many times in the past. If he believes he is dangerous, so must we."

"My lord, if I may? I have already managed to sow seeds of doubt into the minds of the foreigners. They are already questioning the muggle's truthfulness. In time their minds will be rotting with suspicion. Eventually, if they wish to protect the castle, they will have to test his abilities. If he's as capable as Dumbledore seems to think, we may learn a great deal about about the abilities of both the ninja and the muggle."

"Very well. That will have to suffice for now. Now, while we are all here, one big happy family." Voldemort said, coldly looking around the room. "Perhaps, Bellatrix, you would care to explain to exactly how three of my giants ended up dead?" Bellatrix Lestrange flinched.

"I... I... I don't know... My lord. We..."

"SILENCE!" Voldemort roared. "Your incompetence has cost me three giants. THREE!" Trunks could feel Bellatrix's strange ki quiver in fear. He had no doubt that she was shaking in her boots.

"You are relieved of your command. The giants will be under Yaxley's command until you have proven yourself worthy. Until then, find out what happened to the three in Corgsburrow."

"Y...Yes, my lord."

"Yaxley, you will now, as commander of the giants, send them to attack London."

"London? My lord! Surely..."

"Do you dare to question me, Yaxley?"

"N...No my lord."

"Very well... Whatever attacked the three in Corgsburrow will not stand idly by while London is attacked. Bellatrix, I want you to capture whoever is responsible."

"Y...Yes My Lord. It will be my great pleasure."

***

Trunks was ecstatic. "_Magic balls and something about a cell?". _There was no doubt in Trunks's mind that they were talking about Gohan. And they were responsible for the giants attacking that small town. He solved both his riddles in one go. AND GOHAN WAS ALIVE! He could dance with happiness. And when they attacked London, he would be ready.

Now all he had to do, was find out where London was...

***

The bell had just rung for the afternoon's double Potions and Harry dragged his tired body down to the dungeons. His morning's training exercise with Gohan was even worse than Yesterday's. He could have sworn those those weights got heavier!

When they arrived in the corridor they saw that there were only a fifteen people progressing to N.E.W.T level. Crabbe and Goyle had apparently failed to achieve the required O.W.L grade, but four Slytherins had made it through, including Malfoy. Four Ravenclaws were there, and one Hufflepuff, Ernie Macmillan. Then there were the three Japenese students. Naruto, Sakura and a girl that Harry hasn't met yet. She had the same pale eyes as Neji.

The door swung open, and the fifteen students marched into the hated territory. There where a few cauldrons simmering in the dark room, that was otherwise quite deserted.

"Where do you reckon this new potions master is?" Ron asked as he, Harry and Hermoine chose seats near the front of the classroom.

"Knowing Gai, he's probably running around the castle on his hands, or something equally stupid." Naruto muttered.

"You're joking right?" Ernie said as he sat down at a table to the left of the shinobi.

"Afraid not." Sakura said, shaking her head regretfully. "He really is that... _different_. But if I were you, I wouldn't be so concerned with where he is yet. I'd be more concerned with what's in these pots."

"Oh" Hermoine began. "Well, that's... and that's... no, this one is... actually I have no idea what's in any one of these pots." She ended sheepishly.

"That's a first" Ron muttered from their table to the right of the ninja. Hermoine opened her mouth to retort when she was instantly silenced by a loud POOF. There standing in the middle of the room was Professor Gai, wearing an all too revealing green spandex.

"FEAR NOT MY YOUTHFULL STUDENTS!!!" He boomed in his deep voice. "TOGETHER WITH THE POWER OF YOUTH, NOTHING SHALL STOP US IN OUR QUEST FOR KNOWLEDGE."

"Uhm... Professor?" Hermoine mumbled somewhat weakly. Obviously cowed by the new professor's loud demeanor.

"YES! MISS...?"

"Granger, sir. I just wondering what was these potions. I've never read of anything like them before."

"Ah, yes. This..." Gai said, indicating a sickly green potion. "Is..." He took out a piece of paper. "Is Amortentia!"

"But...but..." Hermoine muttered, eyes bulging out of their sockets. "But... Amortentia is supposed to be white!"

"It is?" Gai asked sheepishly.

"What do you mean 'It is?' You're the potions master for crying out loud! You're supposed to know that!"

A soft chuckle echoed through the room. Harry turned around to see the new Security Consultant standing in the corner of the room.

Gai looked at the man furiously. "Ah! Kakashi! You gave me the wrong notes!" Kakashi, for his part, just laughed even louder.

"I don't know what you mean, _Professor." _Kakashi said simply, "Its your subject. You should know how to make potions." Gai glared daggers at the silver haired jounin.

"Oh Kakashi. Your sneakiness is cool, and pisses me off." Gai said choked back a laugh, the result came out as a snort. Just who were these weirdos. Kakashi laughed even louder.

"Okay, Gai. Let me see those notes of yours. Perhaps we can figure out where you went wrong." Gai grumbled something about coolness, but took out a crumpled little piece of paper. With a flick of his wrist, the little piece of paper shot towards the silver haired Jounin at impossible speeds. Kakashi casually snatched it from the air.

"Okay. Lets see here." Kakashi gave the note a quick glance before gathering all the necessary ingredients. With a flick of his finger a kunai popped out of a leather satchel which he caught with his right hand. The he started to chop, cut and crush the ingredients with such speed that Harry couldn't help but wonder if he was some sort of machine.

"First we add the Sopophorous juice." Kakashi said speaking slowly, like one would to a small child. Harry got the distinct impression that he was taunting the potions master. "Then..." he continued slowly. "we add_ three_ clockwise rotations." Stressing the word three.

"Three?"

"Yes, Gai. Three" Said Kakashi continuing with the potion. "I suppose it would be stupid to ask. But how many did you do?"

"Three hundred. A potion must be well stirred."

"And you would know?"

"I'm the potions master. Of course I would know." Gai stated matter-of-factly.

"Then how do you explain this mess?" Kakashi asked, a smile tinting his voice, as he indicated the gangrene green potion.

"That's what a potion looks like that's been stirred properly" Gai said seriously.

"Really." Kakashi said. "So then this 'love potion' will make you fall in love."

"Y...Yes" Gai said defiantly.

"Prove it"

"How am I supposed to..." He froze then turned to look right at Harry. Harry suddenly felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. This was not going to end well...

Finally they seemed to come to some silent agreement. They both looked at Harry. Harry felt his chest tighten. This was not going to end well...

"Harry" Kakashi said, smiling sweetly through his mask. Harry began to sweat nervously. There was no way that smile wasn't fake.

"Yes sir." Harry said nervously.

"Would you like to try some love potion?"

"Not if I have a choice sir."

"Oh, in that case..." He turned to face Naruto.

"Ano..." Hinata said softly. "Might I suggest... Kage Bunshin"

"Excellent idea" Kakashi praised warmly. "Naruto would you do the honors?"

"YOSH!" Naruto jumped up from his seat and went to stand in the front of the class. Harry got the impression that Naruto wasn't used to being able to show off, and was enjoying every minute of it.

He put his hands together so the fingers together in the familiar seal.

"KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!" Naruto yelled loudly.

Suddenly the room was full of Narutos.

"Naruto, we only needed one clone." Kakashi said with a sigh. "Oh, well. One of you come here."

"YOSH!" The Narutos said in unison. And in perfect unison they each pointed to another clone and said. "You, go drink that potion."

"Fine" Kakashi said sternly. "I'll choose."

"You" he said pointing at one of the Narutos standing at the front of the class.

"But I'm the original!"

"Fine you!" Kakashi said pointing to another Naruto.

"No he isn't. I'm the original." The second Naruto shot back.

"Are they always like this?" Hermoine asked Sakura.

"Unfortunately yes. But give him time. Naruto grows on you."

Harry turned back towards the front of the classroom just in time to see Gai grab a random Naruto, forcing him into a headlock. Harry watched in fascination as Kakashi forced some of the potion into the struggling, swearing clone's mouth. Who were these people? And how could they copy themselves? He made a mental not to ask Dumbledore about the Japenese students and teachers when he went to see him for his first private lesson with the headmaster.

Harry was jolted out of his reverie when Gai dropped the Naruto onto the floor, sputtering and coughing. By now all the other clones had disappeared, leaving only, what Harry guessed was the real Naruto, and the clone coughing his guts out on the floor.

All the students leaned forwards in their seats, trying to get trying to get a better look at the poisoned pupil.

"I said 'I'M THE REAL NARUTO!'" Naruto shouted angrily at Gai, as he got of the floor. "That..." he said pointing to the only remaining Naruto "is...", he froze. Stairing deeply into the eyes of his clone.

"Heh?" Was the intelligent reply from the other Naruto.

"Come here sexy!"

"WHAT THE HELL! KAKASHI! WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO ME?"

"Well they did say that Amortentia is a love potion. I guess Hermoine was right after all. The color of the potion does matter." Kakashi said in an amused tone as he watched one Naruto scramble to get away from the other. "I just never would have thought someone could fall in love with themselves."

"What the hell!" One of the Narutos yelled. Harry wasn't sure if it was the poisoned one or not. It was confusing having two identical copies running around. "Get off me you pervert! HEY! WATCH WHERE YOU'RE PUTTING THOSE HANDS OF YOURS!"

Kakashi calmly walked up to Naruto who was being pressed against the wall by his double. With a flick of his wrist one Naruto vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving behind one very real, very angry Naruto.

"TEME! You killed my sexy baby! Now you die!" Kakashi sighed as he moved his hitai-ate. Harry didn't see what happened next. One minute Naruto was fine, well as fine as you could be when poisoned by a faulty potion, the next he slumped over unconscious.

"Okay, class dismissed for today." Gai spoke into the deafening silence that had fallen on the room. "I'll take him to the hospital wing. Harry, Ron. I understand you both need books. There are spare books in the cupboard. Help yourselves.

"Blimey!" Ron said as he walked out the door. "That was unusual wasn't it?"

"I don't know what Dumbledore is thinking!" Hermoine screamed angrily. "How are we supposed to learn from those two. They barely look capable of understanding each other. Never mind advanced potions!"

***

Gohan slowly opened his eyes. He felt so relaxed. So full of energy. Gohan slowly stretched out his legs under the covers, idly wondering if this is what other people felt like every morning.

A detached part of his mind, lazily observed that the sun had already risen. He couldn't remember the last time he rose after sunrise. Usually he was woken in some ungodly hour of the morning by a nightmare.

There was a light tapping sound at the window. Gohan groaned at the annoying sound and turned around, trying to fight of the impending wakefulness. He had to give class today. Gohan groaned again at the thought. He would have to get up. But his bed was so soft. So warm.

Breathing in a deep strengthening breath, Gohan kicked the covers of his bed and pushed himself up, onto his feet. The demi-saiyan stepped into his bathroom and pulled of his atrocious green and red pajamas. He was just about to step into shower, when his sensitive saiyan hearing again picked up a light tapping sound at his window. Wrapping his towel around his waist the demi-saiyan walked over to the window, and was surprised to see a handsome tawny owl pecking at the window.

Gohan vaguely remembered Dumbledore mentioning something about wizards and owls. Trying to remember what it was, Gohan opened the window. The owl immediately flew through the open window and landed on his desk. Gohan turned to face the owl, and was surprised to see a newspaper tied around its leg.

Gohan was still busy untying the newspaper from the offered appendage, when another owl landed next to it. Gohan had just enough time to look the new owl in the eyes before another one arrived next to it. Both new owls carried striking red envelopes. Gohan deftly untied the two red envelopes, and put them down on his desk with his other notes and papers.

The professor set off to the bathroom to continue his shower, when his eye caught something. Sitting on the cover of his newspaper, was his own face. Intrigued, the demi-saiyan took the newspaper and moved to sit down in his favorite armchair. Just before he reached the luxurious seat, two more owls arrived. Both carrying the same red envelopes.

After he had relieved them of their cargo, the two owls took off. He sat back down to read the article about him, never noticing the smoke rising from his desk.

**Muggle at Hogwarts?**

_Over his fifty years as headmaster over Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Albus Dumbledore has often been criticized for his decisions. But recently he has done something so controversial that it threatens to tear the fabric of the magical society apart._

_This special correspondent can exclusively reveal that the Headmaster has hired a thirteen year old muggle boy to... _

**BANG**

Gohan fell out of his seat, sending his towel sprawling. He looked up to see his table smoking, and covered in scorch marks. He quickly hopped up looking around for the source of the attack. Suddenly the tiny room was filled with an enormous roaring sound that seemed to shake the the very foundations of the room.

Gohan was immediately forced back down onto his knees by the incredible sound. It was only after he covered his sensitive saiyan ears, that he realized the sound was in fact a voice shouting at him.

"WORSE THAN MUDBLOOD! FILTH! SCUM!.."

The insults continued but Gohan's sensitive ears had started to bleed, and he was having a great deal of difficulty making out the rest. Not that he actually cared to listen to the insults.

**BANG**

Gohan saw his desk explode for the second time. And the first voice was joined by a second. The volume seemed to double, and the words from the two voices jumbled and echoed around the room.

Gohan rolled around on the floor in agony, hoping desperately that he could just pass out. But rather than pass out he distantly heard two more BANGS...

***

"I wonder what happened to Gohan." Hermoine commented during lunch.

"Huh" Was Ron intelligent reply.

"He was absent from breakfast as well." Hermoine informed Ron. "I hope he's okay. I have his class next."

"He's probably just preparing for his class." Sakura said as she joined the trio along with Naruto and Lee. "Its got to be hard, teaching students older than you are."

Harry hoped Sakura was right. He couldn't help but like the small child teacher. Though it worried him that Gohan hadn't appeared in his dream last night. He also felt a tinge of regret that he had to face his nightmare alone again.

"There he is!" Harry shouted, happy to see that his friend was still okay.

"Blimey, I wonder what happened to him."

Ron had a point. There was something very wrong with the muggle. His hair was even more of a mess than usual, his eyes were as wide as saucers and he seemed to twitch sporadically.

Without making eye contact, Gohan walked right past them. As he passed, Harry heard him mutter something about evil mail and having to keep it away from his mother.

"Gohan-kun" Sakura said softly. Gohan ignored her. He just kept dragging his feet to the teachers table.

"This is most unyouthful." Lee commented sadly. Then suddenly he jumped up from his seat throwing the nice guy pose. "DON'T WORRY GOHAN-KUN! WE SHALL HELP TO RESTORE YOU TO THE SPRINGTIME OF YOUTH!"

Every eye in the hall turned towards Lee. Even Gohan froze in his steps. He looked at Lee over his shoulder. For a second Harry thought he wanted to say something, but in the end seemed to think better of it and continued his slow march towards the teachers table, continuing his mumbling.

"This is worse than I thought" Lee said seriously.

"No kidding" Naruto joined in. "He looks like he went three rounds with Orochimaro."

Sensing weakness, several spells shot towards Gohan. But instead of hitting their target, the spells passed straight through him. Leaving him to fade slowly.

"What was that?" Naruto asked, fiercely turning his head from side to side looking for the raven haired youth. He wasn't the only one. Every eye in the hall was searching for him.

"There he is!" One boy yelled.

The 'there' in question was in fact at the teachers table. He was sitting in his usual place between McGonagall and Hagrid, with his face resting on the table.

Gohan knew he had gone to far. Knew that he shouldn't have done that 'vanishing act' in front of everybody. But after the verbal lashing that morning, he just didn't care anymore.

Feeling a sharp gaze on him, he looked up to see Kakashi, shifting his hitai-ate. Perhaps we was still slightly delusional, but he could have sworn that he just saw a glint of red.

All around him, Harry could hear students whispering. Some where saying he apparated, others thought he used muggle technology to teleport himself. Others that it was a hologram. But somehow he doubted Gohan would go through the trouble of setting up a hologram for that little act.

"Honestly!" Hermoine said eventually. "Is anyone ever going to read _Hogwarts: A History._ You can't apparate or disapparate in Hogwarts! And muggle technology doesn't work in Hogwarts!"

"Then what do you think it is?" Sakura asked curiously.

"I have no idea. I've never seen anything like that before."

"Tough mornin?" Hagrid asked the raven haired teen sympathetically.

"Whyyy?" Gohan moaned. "Why did no one warn me about the red mail?"

"You received a Howler?" Professor McGonagall asked from his right.

"Is that what you call them?" He mumbled, still resting his throbbing head on the table. "Yeah I received a howler. Four of them at the same time."

"And you didn't open them on time did you?"

"Nope." Gohan said shuddering at the memory. "I think I'm going to need a new desk. And probably another copy of the class notes." Minerva froze.

"What?" She said eyeing him with a similar soul-piercing glare to the one his mother always speared him with. "I spent four days writing up those notes for you!"

"Okay, okay" He said quickly. "Let me just check my desk first. Maybe it survived."

McGonagall nodded her head in agreement. Though Gohan could tell she was already going through the work she would have to do in her head.

"Have ya decided what ya gonna teach yer students this year?" Gohan nodded weakly.

"I'm going to give them a project. I'm going to have everyone from the third years to the seventh year students working on it."

"If ya don mind me asking, what are ya gonna have 'em do?"

"I'm going to have them build another inter-dimensional spaceship."

"WHA...!" Every eye immediately shot towards Hagrid, even Gohan's head lifted from his plate ever so slightly. Which was a rather good thing, considering the fact that his plate chose that instance to fill up with food.

"Well," Gohan explained. "I've got to get home somehow. And it will be a good exercise in Muggle technology."

"Don' ya think yer might be asking a little much?"

"Oh, I'll do all the heavy lifting. The third years will just have to help carry the parts around. Fourth years, who already have some experience will install light bulbs and so on. And then every year will get something slightly harder. Don't worry. I'll do all the really complicated stuff, and I'll keep an eye on everyone. And I'll check everything they've done every night to make sure there's no mistake."

"Are you sure. That sounds like an aweful lot of hard work."

"Don't worry." Gohan said, still slightly disorientated from the encounter with the howlers. "If you knew my mother, you'd know that none of her children would ever get the chance to grow up lazy."

**A/N: And there it is, another chapter complete :) My longest chapter yet. Sorry about the long delay, I'm still not sure the chapter came out the way I hoped, but I decided to post it anyway. The first part in particular wasn't as nicely articulated as I'd hoped. **

**As BYoshi1993 pointed out, I do need to add more detail, it does feel a bit rushed to me. I tried to do a bit better in this chapter, but its still hard for me.**

**  
Oh, and guys, I'm still looking for a co-author, as I don't feel I have the skill to write some of the scenes I'm planning for the future.**

**And eav: I know that Ninja's kill. But in "Naruto's screwed up ninja world" as you put it, their first, and several later missions consisted out of protecting something or someone, so I feel, that its still relatively within Naruto's definition of 'ninja', even if it doesn't fit the real world's definition so much. **


	12. Notice

**Notice: Sorry, I've posted the new chapter over the notice. It just occurred to me that you guys might find the link in the email not working, so I'm just letting you know, to check the previous chapter.  
**


	13. Chapter 12

**A/N: Thanks to everyone who's reviewed. It means a lot to me.**

**I am still looking for a co-author if anyone thinks they can help, it would be appreciated. My own shortcomings are painfully clear, especially when I reread the last chapter after posting it. If you're interested, just send me a message telling me what you think you can contribute.**

**Anyway, here's the new chapter. Personally I think its A LOT better than the previous one, but read it and tell me what you think.**

**P.S. I have a pretty good idea where I'm going with this story, but if anyone has any good ideas, I'll try to incorporate it into the story.**

**Chapter 12**

Hermoine cued outside the classroom with the other Muggle Studies students. Besides herself and Sakura, there were only seven other students. It seemed that most students chose to drop the subject after their OWLS. Not that Muggle Studies was ever very popular. Most students had either one or two muggle parents, and seemed to feel that was enough contact with the muggle world.

The door swung open.

The small group of students made their way into the large room. There was a general air of excitement at seeing how the youngest teacher in Hogwarts history would perform.

"Welcome." Gohan was sitting on a desk near the front of the classroom. Wearing a baseball cap, smiling fondly at his new students. "Please have a seat. Near the front. There are few enough of us as it is, I don't think we need to shout over an empty classroom"

The students all chose seats in a semi circle around the teen.

"Excellent. Now before we start the year. How about some introductions? Lets start with you, he said pointing to a girl on his left. Just tell us who you are, your muggle background and why your taking this subject."

"Well... My name is Lavender Brown." She said blushing ever so slightly. "My mother is a muggle, and I'm taking this subject, because I want to work on muggle relations. Kind of like you are I guess."

"Excellent. Now you." He pointed to a boy sitting to her right. Slowly working his way round the small group of students. "I'm Dean Thomas" the boy replied. "My father was a muggle, and I'm just trying to understand him better, I guess." Gohan met his answer with a soft smile.

"I'm also trying to understand my own father. Perhaps this year we'll both find the answers to our questions."

When he was done going through the students, he stood up off his desk.

"Okay. That was simple enough. We'll have an awesome time this year. Now I notice that you all have either one muggle parent, or two." He said eyes coming to rest on Hermoine. "Interesting. I was hoping for some wizard born students as well. But perhaps its better this way."

"Now I see that in the past you have had plenty of experience with muggle inventions and their way of life in general. But this year, is going to be a bit more philosophical. I expect you all to be present for every class. This year we're all going on a journey. And today" he said, taking out a small stone basin. "Is going to be your first step."

The class watched in fascination as Gohan took out a small vial with a brightly glowing liquid inside. He poured it into the stone basin, before taking it in his hands rotating it back and forth slightly. Then he put down the basin with a smile.

"Okay, everyone follow me." He plunged his face into the basin and vanished.

One by one the students warily approached the stone basin, before plunging their faces in the foreign memory. Hermoine and Sakura jumped in last.

***

When the swirl of colors came into focus. Hermoine found herself standing on an open grass plain. A boy with black hair was talking to a blond girl, with an orange haired giant sitting close by, playing with the butterflies.

"Ladies and Gentlemen. Welcome to earth."

"Wait. Earth...?" Gohan nodded vigorously.

"But we were already on earth." Gohan nodded again.

"Freeze" Gohan spoke to nothing. Immediately the three strangers froze in their places. Hermoine also noticed that a butterfly froze just as it was taking off the orange haired giant's fingers. "As you've no doubt by now guessed. This is my dimension's earth."

"Tell me something. Do muggles have just as many rights as wizards?" The others nodded their agreement. This was already discussed in their first year. "So muggles are worth just as much as wizards are?" Again the others nodded their agreement.

"This is sixteen." He said pointing to the orange haired giant. "Does he have the same right to live as wizards?"

"Yes" Hermoine said, somewhat angry. "Why wouldn't he have less right to live that others."

"Excellent question Hermoine. You see Sixteen is an android. He was never born. He has nothing biological about him. Does he still have the same right to live as others?" Hermoine's mouth opened and closed for a few moments.

"Wait... He was made?" Gohan nodded again.

"Are you sure? He seems so real."

Gohan's eyes saddened for a moment. Then he looked up.

"He was very real. He was an honest individual that loved nature and hated hurting other things. People don't get any more real than that. But he wasn't biological."

"Now's my question. Does he have the same rights as wizards. Does he deserve to have aurors fight for him? Die for him? Or is that a right only the wizards possess." The entire class grew silent, watching Gohan intently.

"He..." Gohan said softly. "He was created... for one reason." Gohan said in barely more than a whisper. "To kill my father." There was a shocked silence as Gohan waited for this to sink in.

"Now, does that mean I'm justified if I kill him, when he has done nothing but play with butterflies?"

"Can I deny him the right to live, just because of what someone else decided his life should be?"

"But" Lavender answered. "If he's a machine. How can he be alive?"

"Excellent question. I asked myself that for a long time. I thought it was just self-defense killing these machines that were built to kill us. But perhaps..." he said thoughtfully, "perhaps it will help if I show you his final moments."

"Fast forward." Again the world disappeared in a blur of colour. But Gohan seemed to be able to make sense of it. Because when he said 'stop' he seemed to be satisfied with the result.

They were all standing on a small patch of earth that was visible in a sea of blackness.

"Pardon the dark, but this is my own private memory. So I've edited out the parts I didn't want you to see."

One of the girls screamed. When Hermoine followed her gaze, she felt sick. There lying on the ground was a head.

"Listen carefully to his words, then decide if he was alive or not."

"Gohan, let it go." The head said in a gentle voice. "It's not a sin fighting for the right cause. There are those who words alone will not reach.... Cell is such a being. I know how you feel Gohan. You are gentle. You do not like to hurt. I know because I too have learned these feelings. But it is because you cherish life that you must protect it."

"This sentimental downpour is killing me" A smooth, cold voice said from the darkness. "It so nice of you to help Sixteen. But I plan on doing this my way." Hermoine could hear footsteps approaching.

The android smiled. "Please..." the head said, voice straining with emotion. "Drop your restraints. Protect the life I have loved. You have the strength my, scanners sensed it... Just let it go, release your anger."

There was silence for a few seconds, the severed mechanical head being the sole focus of the small class. Suddenly a foot descended out of the blackness crushing the metal skull.

"Freeze" Gohan said again. He stared at the crushed skull for a second. "Now. I ask you again. Does a being such as he have the same right to live?"

The silence was absolute for a few minutes as the students stared at the crushed skull in horror. Only Sakura looked composed. He had to remind himself that not everyone had seen death as early in life as they had.

Eventually Lavender found her voice.

"Where they able to repair him?" she asked.

"No part of him was ever found again." Gohan said sadly.

Hermoine was lost in thought. She was so sure that living things were born, and that created things were dead. But that would mean that the head was never alive. But how could something that spoke so movingly about life and loving nature be dead?

She wanted him to be dead. To be just another thing. But... she looked back at the head, not sure how she was supposed to feel, watching a machine so cruelly destroyed.

She was reminded of Shakespeare who wrote:

"_There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy._" Suddenly her philosophy that seemed so solid a minute ago, was very ill prepared to deal with this situation.

Eventually she raised a trembling hand.  
"Yes, Hermoine?"  
"You said he was created to kill your father. Did he?"

"No" he said sadly, "my father died before he ever got the chance."

"So then. He's never hurt anybody?"

"No." Gohan answered gently.

"But... but..." Hermoine stuttered trying to find words to describe what she felt seeing him so cruelly destroyed. But Gohan just watched her calmly.

"I know the questions you are all asking yourselves. I've asked them for many months after this happened."

"And? What have you decided." Dean asked him.

"In the end I decided that it didn't matter if he was alive or not. He loved, and that makes him worthy of anything life could offer him."

He looked around at his nine students.

"Sixteen gave his everything to protect life, and in the end it cost him his own life." He looked around at his seven students.

"He didn't have to die" Gohan said, almost to himself, in a tone heavy with regret. He seemed lost in some memory for a second, fighting unknown demons. Eventually he looked up. "But he made a choice. He decided that there was something he was prepared to die for."

"The next time we see each other is on Thursday, then we will continue this discussion. But I feel it would be pointless to continue before you've formed your own opinions." Hermoine pried her eyes of the mangled head to look into Gohan's eyes. "But before we go, I want to leave you with something to think about: Is it right for us to expect from him to sacrifice himself for us, just because he wasn't born?"

There was silence for a few seconds as they considered his question. He could see them struggling with their own thoughts. He waited patiently, knowing what it was like to wrestle with conflicting emotions. Eventually when he sensed that they were ready, he told them to take hands.

The students gripped each other. Gohan walked up to Dean, put his hands on his shoulders, looked up, and the next thing they knew everyone was standing back in the classroom.

*******

Hermoine laid awake for hours that night. Try as she might, she couldn't get the image out of her head as the monstrous foot mercilessly crushed the metal skull. She could still see the eyeballs popping out of their mechanical sockets.

For such a long time she's fought for house elf rights. For muggle rights, and muggle born wizards' right. But did anyone of them truly deserve it? She wanted to scream YES! That life was precious because it was life. But did that make Sixteen worthless? And if Sixteen was precious despite being a machine, did that mean that life wasn't precious?

She growled in frustration, this was going nowhere. Deciding she might as well give up getting any sleep tonight, she got out of bed. When she made her way down to the Gryffindor common room. She found the three Muggle Studies Gryffindors from her class all sitting around the room. All with the same vacant expression.

She walked out to the window. In the moonlight she could already make out Harry trying desperately to mimic Gohan's movements. She couldn't understand what was so hard about it. It was just movements. Wasn't it?

She tried to think about it. But her brain refused to think about anything other than Sixteen.

"Can't sleep?" She looked away from the window. It was Dean.

"No. You?"

"I just can't get that head out of my mind. The way he was just squashed like that."

"Do you have an answer yet?"

"An answer to what?"

"I guess that's the problem. I don't know what the question is." Hermoine said in frustration. "But I feel that there has to be an answer that will make everything make sense. But I just can't find it."

"I know what you mean. One minute everything made sense. Living things were alive and dead things were dead. The next... I don't know what to think anymore.

"Maybe there is no real answer." Hermoine said looking out the window again. "I just wish I knew what my opinion was?"

"Yeah" Lavender agreed from her position at the table. "I've always had an opinion. But now, I just don't know what to think any more." There was silence for a few seconds, everyone lost in their own thoughts. Hermoine could see the first rays of light starting to appear over the mountains.

"I guess we'll just have to wait until he gives us the answer." Dean answered again.

"Yeah, but he's thirteen. What could he possibly know about life. He's not even old enough to apparate yet!" Lavender yelled in frustration. Hermoine wouldn't say it out loud. But she also found her dependence on a child for answers to be infuriating.

"I think I'm going down to the Lake. I need to think." Hermoine said eventually.

"We're not really supposed to be out in the corridors after dark." Sakura said softly. "But then, the sun's going to rise in a few minutes. I guess I'll come with you."

"Yeah, maybe Gohan's going to do that dance of his again." Dean answered. "That was really impressive." With murmurs of agreement the four headed down to the lake.

As they walked down to the Lake, Sakura furiously tried to make sense of things. She wasn't as concerned with the android's death as the others were. Things died. That's the way its always been in Konoha. As a ninja she had to come to accept the fact a long time ago.

No, what bothered her was something else entirely. There was something about Gohan that she just didn't trust. Ever since her first DADA lesson, she found herself growing more and more suspicious of the boy. But she just couldn't find a reason for her suspicions... Other than the fact that he was a ki user.

As a ninja, she had learned to trust her instincts, but there had always been something that she could eventually put her finger on, that was wrong or out of place. This time, all she had was a dreadful feeling in the pit of her stomach and no idea where it came from.

As she walked down to the Lake with the other. In the cold early morning air, she made up her mind. It was time to talk to Neji...

***

"That's great Harry you're really improving." Gohan said happily watching his student. "I think you're ready for the next step." Harry groaned.

"Why am I getting a bad feeling about this?"

"I'll make your weights a bit lighter." Harry perked up at hearing the news. "But from now on your going to wear them all the time."

"But I can hardly move without using my ki!"

"Exactly. This will exercise your ki, and give you a lot of practice. Don't worry in a week you'll hardly feel the weight any more."

"Are you sure?"  
"No, not really. I've never trained anyone before... And then there's the whole thing about you being from another dimension."

"Hey Harry!" Hermoine called as soon as she was within ear shot.

"Hey Hermoine." Harry said weakly. Arms hanging limply from the weight.

"Hey Gohan. Will you give us another demonstration?" Dean asked hopefully.

"Yeah. Will you do that dance you did on Saturday?" Lavender asked.

Gohan looked at Harry. The poor boy was dead on his feet.  
"Okay. Harry you get to take a break. I'm going to run through the katas at full speed. But I want you to sense my ki as I'm doing it, okay?"

"Okay." Harry said thrilled at the prospect of lying down on the soft grass. He moved next to Hermoine and dropped down onto the soft grass, indenting it softly.

Harry watched in awe, as Gohan ran through his katas. Now that he knew how heavy those weights he wore were, he couldn't help but be impressed. With every movement he could feel Gohan's ki shift to support his muscles. Every movement was perfect. He didn't waste a drop of ki. With every move he shifted his ki to exactly where it was needed.

"Wow that's fast." Dean commented appreciatively.

"Yeah, and if Harry's anything to go by, its not as easy as it looks."

"It can't be that hard. Maybe Harry's just useless." Harry felt himself grow hot under the collar. _How would they do?_ He thought bitterly. _The wouldn't even be able to stand with these weights. _How he longed to tell them just how difficult it was...

But, he had agreed to keep his training a secret. The less impressive they thought Harry was, the better. Harry would likely only get one shot at Voldemort and he didn't want to risk it, by leaking what he could do first.

He was allowed to tell Ron and Hermoine, but somehow, knowing something they didn't gave him a savage sort of pleasure. He wasn't sure what about not telling them was so satisfying, but at the moment he was rather enjoying not telling them what he was being taught. Besides they were going to be taught by Kakashi at the dueling club on the 4th.

"Hey, dueling club is starting today." Harry said, surprised that it had slipped his mind until now.

"Hey, you're right!" Dean said. "I've completely forgotten about that since Sixteen!"

"Sixteen?"

"A memory Gohan showed us in class. I haven't been able to think of anything else since."

"Really?" Harry asked intrigued. "What happened?"

"Believe me Harry" Hermoine said, eyes fastened on Gohan. "You don't want to know."  
"It couldn't have been that bad."

"Believe me Harry" Dean said significantly. "It was that bad."

"Hey, he stopped." Harry remembered he was supposed to be sensing Gohan and instantly concentrated on Gohan's beachy ki.

"And there you have it" Gohan said with a bow.

"Wow! Harry it looks like you have a lot of catching up to do."

"Hey, its a lot harder than it looks." Gohan said seriously. "Harry's actually doing very well."

"But he's so slow."

"Its supposed to be slow at first. You only do the katas as fast as you can do them perfectly."

"Anyway" Gohan said looking around at the others seriously. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm going to get some breakfast."

***

There was a general buzz of excitement in the great hall, as more students filed in through the doors. The sky was a velvety black once more.

The four house tables were removed in favor of six large mats, and a golden stage stood along one wall. Students gathered around all the mats chattering excitedly about the club.

"Who do you reckon is going to teach us this year?" Ron asked Hermoine.

"I don't know. But it might be Snape. He is the new DADA teacher." Ron groaned.

"Don't remind me."

"Hey isn't that Harry? I thought him and Gohan were going to do something else tonight." Hermoine looked over to where he was pointing. Sure enough, Gohan and Harry were both sitting against the wall, next to the door. Harry was soaked in sweat, mumbling obscenities while resting against the wall.

"Geez Harry. What've you been doing? You look terrible." Ron asked as soon as they were within earshot.

"...Training..." he wheezed.

"Yeah, but I thought he could use a break" Gohan explained. "So I thought we'd come and watch tonight."

"You're not going to take part?" Hermoine asked amazed. "I thought after... you know. That you'd be looking for any help you could get."

"... Can't." He wheezed out. "Dumbledore's tutoring is going to interfere."

"Oh, has he said what he's going to be teaching you yet?"  
"No." Harry's head turned from its position against the wall, looking at them sickly.

"Just what kind of training have you been giving him?" Hermoine accused.

"We were just continuing with basic katas"

"You mean that weird dance of yours?" Ron asked

"If you expect us to believe that's all your doing, you're not as smart as we thought you were." Hermoine answered skeptically.

"Its all we've been doing. Trust me." Gohan said throwing them the Son grin.

"Yeah, believe it or not... That is all we've been doing." Harry said weakly.

"I don't get it, Harry" Hermoine said looking at the boy sympathetically. "Why are you trying so hard to master that dance? Isn't it more important to get ready for..." she looked at Gohan, unsure of how much she could say. "You know"

"Well, its not really a dance" Gohan explained. "They're katas. They increase speed, strength, stamina and flexibility."

"Oh. Okay, I see. But wouldn't it make more sense for Harry to learn magic?" Gohan treated her to the Son grin once again.

"Trust me, its worth it. And for what its worth, Dumbledore asked me to train him, so he obviously seems to think so too. But don't worry, I'm only teaching what will complement his magic. I'm not planning on replacing his magical heritage."

"Oh... okay..." Hermoine said not entirely convinced. "I guess if Dumbledore..." She paused, noticing that the entire hall had gone quiet.

Hermoine let out a low growl as she saw Kakashi and Snape walking out onto the stage. She still hadn't forgiven Kakashi for poisoning Naruto. In her world knowledge was everything. And knowledge came from teachers and books. So for a teacher to be blatantly ignorant of his subject was unforgivable.

The fact that Gai was the one who was supposed to be teaching potions, lay completely forgotten.

"Lets see. That's about half the school that showed up for our first meeting." Kakashi said as if to himself, even thought his voice carried throughout the room. "You are all here because you wish to be taught to defend yourself. Now, the first thing you must know is that where I come from we don't use wands to duel."

Immediately the room was full of worried whispering. Gohan could hear all the whispering around him.

"No wands" Said one small boy with a frown.

"Does this mean they aren't going to teach us magic?" His friend asked him.

"My colleague, Professor Snape." Kakashi continued, "is going to be working on integrating what I teach you with more traditional wizard dueling. So the question I'm sure you're all asking yourselves is what am I going to teach you?"

"I've only got a year to teach you in, so I will only be teaching you four basic uses of Chakra, basic combat movements, and how to use common objects as weapons. The first use for Chakra is the most common, to increase your strength. The second will be to use Chakra to increase your speed. The third will be to use Chakra to walk on walls and later, maybe we can cover water. The fourth use of Chakra is the bunshin, it is the most basic genjutsu ability."

"Combat movements, will teach you to move in a way that makes it harder to hit you while making sure you're always ready for a counter attack. And lastly turning common objects into weapons is a last resort, but can save your life if you're ever in a situation without a wand."

The room started muttering excitedly. Hermoine seemed especially excited at the prospect of learning something new.

"But you won't be doing anything today. For today, I've planned an exhibition tournament so you will know what to expect." Gohan perked up against the wall, this was an excellent opportunity to learn a few new fighting techniques. Despite being a scholar at heart, he loved a good sparring session. And now he was being treated to something he wouldn't be able to find anywhere in his own universe.

"Naruto, Sakura, Hinata, Neji, Tenten and Lee. Will you six please join me on stage." Every eye in the hall focused on the six as they made they're way up to the stage.

"As you've probably guessed, we are all from the same village. So these six students already know the basics that I'm going to teach you. They each specialize in one of the six facets of what you are going to learn, and have generously offered to help me teach you."

"Snape, would you do the honors?" Kakashi asked his colleague. Snape didn't look happy at having been assigned the grunt work, but conjured up a tournament board with out complaining. Then he conjured a large hat.

"Would the contestants please put their names in the hat." Kakashi asked pleasantly. The six shinobi each wrote their names down on a piece of paper and placed them in the hat.

"Now because there are only six combatants, the winner of the first fight will advance straight to the finals, whereas the winners of fights 2 and 3 will have to each other for a place in the final. Its not ideal, but it should serve for the purposes of the demonstration"

Then Snape magically pulled out one name at a time. As each name was drawn it was written into the next slot on the board. At the end of the drawing the results stood as follows.

ROUND 1:

Battle 1: Sakura vs Neji

Battle 2: Hinata vs Lee

Battle 3: Naruto vs Tenten

ROUND 2:

Battle 4: Winner of Battle 2 vs Winner of Battle 3

ROUND 3:

Battle 5: Winner of Battle 1 vs Winner of Battle 4

***

Neji and Sakura took their places opposite each other on the platform.

"Now, remember" Kakashi told the two shinobi. "You are only allowed to use the six techniques that we will be teaching this year. That means no other jutsu will be allowed, weapons will also not be allowed. The primary purpose of this match will be to demonstrate the value of what they will be learning."

Sakura smirked while she dropped into the stance that Tsunade had taught her. She was allowed to use her _brute strength_. Whereas Neji, wasn't allowed to use either his byakugan or his gentle fist. But if either of these disadvantages bothered Neji, he didn't show it. He merely stood there arms relaxed looking at Sakura confidently.

"BEGIN!" Kakashi yelled, stepping off the stage.

Neither combatant moved. Sakura still in her stance, and Neji still with his arms relaxed at his sides.

"Remember the katas we did this morning?" Gohan asked his student. Harry nodded without taking his eyes off the two combatants.

"What can you tell me about Sakura's stance?"

"Uhm... Her legs are far apart, so... I don't know?"

"Try"

"Uhm... I just know that if my legs ever moved that far apart I fell down."

"Precisely." Gohan explained. "That's because you are wearing weights, which also teach you how to move without losing your balance. The way she's standing means she hasn't got a lot of balance. She's probably going to start by moving."

"And Neji? He hasn't taken a stance. So..."

"He thinks it won't be necessary. Its a sign of supreme confidence and, in my dimension at least, the highest insult you could give you opponent."

Suddenly, on some unspoken command, Neji rushed towards Sakura with terrific speed, while Sakura dropped to the floor. At first Harry thought Sakura had lost her balance, but was shocked to see her easily smash her fist into the wooden stage. She ripped out a huge beam of wood, leaving a gaping hole in the stage.

She lightly tossed the beam into the air and spun round. Her foot connected with the massive beam. It instantly shattered sending hundreds of sharp fragments of wood hurtling towards the Jounin.

Neji gave an impossible leap, easily clearing the projectiles. Just before he could land on the pink haired kunoichi, she jumped back easily traveling over the end of the stage. Neji, unperturbed, continued his lightning approach.

Sakura put her hands together in a seal and before she landed, there were five exact copies of Sakura running in different directions. All five Sakura's performed an enormous backflip that carried them all the way to the wall where they stuck to it.

This was the second time that Gohan had seen someone make multiple copies of themselves. But it was different to when he saw Naruto perform the feat. This time the copies didn't have ki that he could sense. So either, he decided, Sakura can't do it properly yet, or it was a different technique.

The Sakura that Gohan could sense crouched and dug her hands deep into the stone wall beneath her feet. She jumped away from the wall, ripping an enormous chunk of granite out with her. Her trajectory sent her hurtling just above Neji who had all but closed the distance on her.

Sakura swung around in mid air bringing the colossal chunk of rock down on the space Neji had occupied a second ago. The granite shattered creating an enormous cloud of smoke and sending fist sized chunks of rock skidding across the floor. Neji, no where to be seen.

There was a shocked silence. Had she really just crushed her own schoolmate? Gohan closed his eyes and sought out Neji's ki. He gasped and looked up. There standing on the roof of the ceiling was Neji. Soundlessly, the Jounin dropped from the ceiling.

Sakura looked around for the Jounin. She knew it wasn't that easy to crush a wielder of the _Heavenly Spin. _Her plan was to force the Jounin to use a jutsu that wasn't allowed, thereby disqualifying him. But she wasn't sure how he could have escaped with the few jutsus that they were allowed to use.

She sensed his descending chakra a second to late.

She spun around swinging her fist at Neji. The taijutsu specialist merely pulled up his legs, and grabbed onto her appendage as it passed under him. Using her arm as support he lashed out, his foot making solid contact with Sakura's head. It was a devastating blow that sent the kunoichi crashing to the floor.

Neji waited patiently while she picked herself off the floor.

"Its over." Neji commented, when she had gotten to her feet. Sakura nodded in agreement.

"I concede" Sakura told the wide eyed Hogwarts student. "He wins"

There was absolute silence for a few seconds, then a trembling hand was slowly raised into the air.

"Yes Hermoine?" Sakura asked.

"I uhm... was just wondering, why did you give up. I mean, its very obvious that you're a lot stronger than he is. Why did you not just punch him."

"Because" she explained. "Neji is a genius that specializes in close combat. There is no way I could've beaten him at hand to hand combat. That's why I kept attacking him from a distance."

"Oh" Hermoine replied simply.

"But" another girl asked. "What happened. We all saw you crush him with that boulder."

"That is the bunshin." Sakura explained. "Its one of the techniques were going to teach you this year. Its essentially just an illusion that looks like you. I made five that ran up the wall."

"Yes" Neji stated. "About that. What were you planning with the bunshin? You didn't really think that I of all people would attack the wrong one, did you?"

"No" Sakura admitted. "I just thought they might come in handy if the fight was prolonged."

"When did you make the bunshin?" One boy asked Neji.

"Before I walked onto the stage." Neji explained simply.

"Oh... Hey, isn't that cheating?" Neji glared at the first year, while Sakura laughed.

"If you're going to fight in a tournament, then yes." Sakura told the him. "But... and this is very important... We are not teaching you how to fight fair. A war is coming, and Dumbledore wants you to be capable of defending yourselves..."

"By any means necessary." Neji finished.


	14. Chapter 13

**A/N: Thanks to everyone for sticking with me this far. I know things have been slow for a while, but don't worry things are going to get much more interesting soon.**

**Anyway, here's the next chapter. I'm not sure I'm happy with the scene with Trunks, so I may change it later. And if that happens I may change the rest of the chapter as well. So if anyone has any suggestions, feel free to leave them in a review.**

**Chapter 13**

"And there you have it" Kakashi said stepping back onto the stage. "Now, before we move on to the next round. Are there any questions?" Three hands were raised.

"Yes. Mr..."

"McMillan, sir. I was just wondering, will we be able to do all that?"

"That depends on you. Most people who use chakra to increase strength can only get about 5% of Sakura's strength. How much you are able to do depends entirely upon you."

"Oh" The excited murmuring died down to be replaced with a disappointed silence. It seemed that everybody had their hopes set on matching Sakura's strength.

"BUT IF YOU WORK HARD YOU CAN ACHIEVE ANYTHING!" Lee shouted at the top of his lungs.

"YOSH!" Naruto agreed. "WE'LL TRAIN HARD AND SHOW THAT SNAKE BASTARD WHAT WE CAN DO!"

There was absolute silence in the wake of the 'youthful' display. Then, from his position at the wall, Harry snorted. All the fear, all the uncertainty, that Harry had felt ever since he learned that he was destined to destroy Voldemort, was washed away by that simple statement. Free from months of worry, Harry laughed. Laughed like he hadn't laughed in ages.

Harry couldn't help it. He had been worrying about that 'Snake bastard' for so long that he'd completely forgotten what it felt like to be carefree. But somehow, Naruto's simple declaration washed away the burden he'd been carrying ever since Dumbledore revealed the prophecy to him.

Harry's voice echoed through the vast silence that had taken residence in the hall. He could feel hundreds of eyes on him. Harry gasped, clutching at his aching sides, trying to laugh and breathe at the same time. _Why was this so funny? _Harry wondered as he fought for air. _Why can't I stop laughing? No one else is laughing._

When Harry finally stopped laughing, he looked up into a myriad of concerned eyes.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked, trying to get heart-rate back to normal.

"Harry" Gohan said gently, an understanding smile lighting his features. "You're crying"

"What?" Harry asked, momentarily stunned. He reached up to his eyes. His cheeks were wet.

"Wha...? Why was I crying?"

"Alrigh' alrigh', nothin ta see here" Came a deep booming voice. The crowd parted as Hagrid's massive shape forced its way towards Harry. "Wha' ya lookin at?" Hagrid demanded fiercely. Immediately everyone turned their eyes back towards Kakashi.

"Thank you Hagrid" Harry said meekly. He felt very foolish now that he'd stopped laughing.

"N' problem, 'Arry" Hagrid said as he sat down next to his favorite student. They sat in awkward silence for a few seconds.

"Hagrid? What are you doing here?"

"Jus' doin' me rounds" Hagrid said, as though that explained everything. "Though' I might see how ya were getting along, here with all the dueling an everythin'. Reckon it'll be a big help then?"

"I'm not part of the dueling club." Harry said, wincing as he tried to sit up. He kept forgetting that he needed to use his ki to move.

"What! I'd thought ye'd be tryin' ye' best to learn new tricks after everythin' ye've been through."

"I'm training him" Gohan explained from Harry's other side.

"An Dumbledore reckons yeh can do a better job than Kakawhatshisname?" Hagrid asked.

"I'm not sure what's going in Dumbledore's mind. But in any event, he asked me to train Harry." Gohan said simply. Hagrid laughed.

"No one knows what goes on in his head. Brillian' man Dumbledore. But I saw the firs' fight. If ye can teach more than they can, then ye must really be somethin' te see." Gohan treated the half-giant to the Son grin.

"I've won my share of fights".

"Look they're starting the next match." Harry said while his arm twitched ineffectually. Gohan guessed that Harry tried to point towards the stage. Perhaps the weights were a tad heavy, Harry looked like he was ready to pass out... _Nah, he can take it... I think._

***

Neji let his sharp gaze drift over the sea of faces surrounding the stage. The students had broken out of their stupor and were eagerly asking Kakashi questions, though occasional glances were still thrown towards the Potter boy.

Neji smirked. He knew exactly what had happened to Potter. He'd been set free. Neji could still remember the first time Naruto had set him free. He felt like laughing and crying at the same time too. Of course he had the dignity to suppress the urge... but then, not everyone could be as strong as a Hyuuga.

Still, he had to hand it to Harry. The boy surprised him. The weight of the future of this world rested on his shoulders, and he carried it remarkably well. Perhaps if he could be trained, he might make an excellent Hokage.

But first he needed to be separated from Gohan. As a ninja, Neji had learned to trust his instincts. And his instincts were screaming to him that Gohan was dangerous. And the fact that he was a ki user, was not helping.

_Ki user. _Neji rolled the word around in his head in disgust. Its been proven time and again. There is only one thing ki is good for: _Saishyuu Saigo no Waza_. An enormously powerful attack that ignited all the user ki, resulting in a single massive explosion capable of taking out something as large as an entire arena.

Of course no one wanted to sacrifice themselves for the so called 'ultimate' attack. So children were raised and brainwashed since they could walk and then trained how to ignite their ki. Neji found the thought of using children in such a way disgusting. But the fact that boy he was charged to protect was sitting next to someone who had been trained to self destruct was making him very uneasy. If it wasn't for Dumbledore's insistence that Gohan was going to play a vital role, he would have demanded that the ki user be removed from the castle.

But, perhaps the castle's magic could contain even the dreaded ki attack. But Neji would prefer if he didn't have to find out.

"Neji-kun" Sakura asked softly, bringing him out of his reverie.

"Yes... Sakura" Neji said, knowing that he'd been caught staring at Harry.

"We need to talk." She said softly. Neji nodded in agreement.

"Follow me" Neji said simply, leading her off the stage to an open corner at the back of the room.

***

Hinata nervously followed Lee up onto the stage. Stepping around the hole Sakura created, Hinata turned to face her self-assured opponent. Hinata gulped.

_He seems so confident! _Hinata noticed. _And why wouldn't he be. He's only going up against me, and I'm not even allowed to use my Juuken!_

"HINATA!" Naruto shouted energetically. "KICK HIS ASS!"

"HEY! WHO'S SIDE ARE YOU ON!" Lee screamed back at his blond friend.

"BAKA. HINATA'S MY TEAM MATE! WHY WOULD I BE ON YOUR SIDE?"

"BUT AS YOUTHFUL MEN, WE NEED TO STICK TOGETHER!" Lee complained.

"HINATA'S WAY MORE AWESOME THAN YOU!" Naruto shouted back.

Hinata felt her face growing hot with what must be a furious blush. _He thinks I'm awesome? _The thought seemed to echo through her mind. Filling her with strength.

"Ano..." Hinata tentatively intejected the shouting match. "Lets do our best Lee-kun"

"YOSH!" Lee agreed. "LET'S FIGHT WITH THE FULL POWER OF YOUTH!"

Kakashi looked disinterestedly between the two fighters.

"Are you ready?" Hinata and Lee both nodded, dropping into their respective stances.

"Then... BEGIN!" Kakashi yelled again stepping off the stage.

Hinata scanned Lee's stance for openings. It wasn't difficult. With his one arm behind his back and the other straight in front, it seemed that there wasn't may parts of his body he was defending, let alone weaknesses. But, she knew that Lee's terrific speed more than made up for those openings.

Lee didn't waste another second. Having formulated a basic plan of attack he stormed down on the younger kunoichi.

_Eep! Here he comes! _Hinata thought nervously. _No! Concentrate! I spent hours practicing. I can do this._

Lee's first punch missed its target as Hinata leaned backwards, sending the appendage sailing over her. Before Lee had a chance to pull back his extended arm, she lightly tapped his arm in three

places.

Lee's eyes widened. If she had been allowed to use her Juuken, that would have completely disabled his arm.

"You'll have to do better than that Lee-kun." She said with a small smile as she straightened herself.

"Forgive me Hinata, I've been underestimating you. I won't hold back anymore." Hinata turned slightly paler than she was usually. But stood her ground, determined to do her best.

Lee's next assault was three times as fast nearly breaking through Hinata's defenses. Hinata's hands were a constant blur as she fought to deflect the furious onslaught. Every few hits a blow would make its way past Hinata's hands, forcing her to lean out of the way.

Inch by inch, Hinata was forced backwards. _And Lee isn't even getting worn out. _Hinata realised with dismay.

Then, Lee made a mistake...

It was such a small mistake that Hinata wasn't even sure it was a mistake. He threw a punch a few ounces too hard, pushed it a millimeter to far and pulled it back a millisecond too late.

But that was all the gap Hinata needed.

She leaned forward and before Lee could bring his arm back, lightly tapped his torso three times. Unfortunately her Juuken stance did not lend her the power to do any significant damage.

Lee simply ignored her 'taps' and leaped into the air.

"KONOHA SENPUU!" He yelled as he swung his foot round in an almighty kick aimed at the pale kunoichi's head. She deftly ducked underneath his foot, but Lee swung around faster than anyone could believe possible initiating a second, lower kick.

Hinata knew what was going to happen before it did... She was trapped to the ground, there was no way she would be able to dodge or deflect this blow. She was forced to block.

Lee's tremendous hit smashed through her block, completely knocking her of the stage.

Hinata fought to remain conscious as she sailed through the air. _Such power. _She thought helplessly. She had the presence of mind to twist herself at the last second, landing on all fours. But the force of Lee's kick sent her skidding backwards into the minefield of broken rocks that Sakura had created in her own battle.

Hinata stood up shakily. Her arms throbbed painfully. If she hadn't expelled chakra from the pores in her arms at the last second they would probably have broken under the tremendous kick. Ugly bruises were already forming on each arm.

She could tell the school was in shock. As far as they could tell, Hinata had only lightly touched Lee, almost playfully. In return he was beating the small girl with everything he had. They think that its because I don't want to hit him hard, she realized. But rather, its because I can't. Neji never trained me how to fight without the Juuken.

Looking at the broken rock scattered about her, Hinata formed a plan. She allowed a small smile to light up her delicate features. It was time to attack back.

Lee stood there for a second confused. He'd been certain that his _konoha senpuu_ would be enough to finish the fragile looking girl. Perhaps there was more to Hinata-chan than he had originally thought. He was brought out of his reverie by a fist sized chunk of rock that hurtled towards him. He quickly leaned to the left allowing the dangerous projectile to pass him.

This fight was obviously far from over.

Lee once again ran full speed towards the kunoichi. Hinata immediately sprang into action. She stepped on one of the chunks of rock that littered the floor. She launched a kick, with the rock

still stuck to her foot. With the precision timing of a Hyuuga, she cut of the chakra to her foot, sending the rock soaring towards Lee.

But her assault didn't stop there. As soon as the chunk of granite was released, she performed a back flip, landing with her hands on two more chunks of rock. Before she could begin to lose her balance she bounced up launching both chunks towards her senpai.

Gohan watched, entranced as he saw the kunoichi dance through the fields of rock. Every move was planned to precision. She rolled, flipped, twisted and spun through the rocky chunks. Each time either her hand or foot came into contact with another piece, it stuck until she could launch it at Lee.

It was completely different to the kind of combat Gohan was used to...

Gohan was used to fights being fast, brutal and hard. But this was something else. Every move was precisely choreographed, fluidly blending into the next, so that he couldn't tell where one move ended and the next began. It was so smooth, so beautiful that Gohan couldn't help but admire the kunoichi's movement.

But the result was clear: Rock after rock hurtled towards Lee, who had already let three through his defenses. He was probably going to be carrying those bruises for a long time.

Just before the charging Lee reached his target, Hinata put her hands together in a seal.

"BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!" A poof of smoke later revealed six identical Hinatas running in separate directions.

Lee looked confused from the one Hinata to the other. Eventually making up his mind, he shot after the nearest Hinata.

A massive chunk of rock smashed into his back just as his own fist passed harmlessly through the bunshin. Lee turned around just in time to catch the second chunk. He paused for a second before shooting after the next Hinata.

He faked a punch towards the kunoichi and swung around instantly catching the rock before it could smash into him. Without looking back he smashed his elbow into the clone, which passed through the clone harmlessly. His suspicions confirmed, he shot towards the next clone.

The next Hinata he reached was smiling at him, confidently waiting for him. He again faked a punch a swung around to catch… nothing.

Lee realized it a second too late.

But by the time he had swung around to face the 'real' Hinata, she had tapped his torso seven times.

Lee paled. If the kunoichi had been allowed to use her Juuken, those blows would have been more than enough to take him out of the fight.

But as it were, Lee simply ignored her soft taps, and opened a barrage of punches, much harder than before, easily smashing through Hinata's weary defenses. He landed three punches to every tap the Hyuuga gave him.

Within minutes the girl standing in front of him had been reduced to a bruised, bloody mess. Lee couldn't help but admire the kunoichi. She was a lot tougher than he gave her credit for. The fact that she was still standing was amazing in itself. And she still managed to land the occasional, albeit futile, tap.

_But why? _He wondered._ Why is she continuing to fight like this? She must know she can't win._

Then he saw it.

It was just for an instant. Gone before he registered it. But he'd seen it. Hinata's eyes flicked towards Naruto. _So that's it. _He realized. _She's fighting for Naruto..._

A final uppercut knocked the young heiress completely off her feet. It would be a miracle if she got up after that hit, Lee thought. But sure enough, she twitched. And then, slowly, she started to move.

Lee watched patiently as the battered girl slowly fought to get back onto her feet.

It was clear to everyone that she had lost. She could barely stand, and despite all the hits she managed to land, Lee was barely affected by her attacks. She hung her head in defeat. At least Neji was still dangerous without his Juuken. But it was painfully obvious to the kunoichi that she was useless without her signature attack.

Lee raised his hand.

"I give up!" He declared loudly. "Hinata wins."

"Wh…What?" Hinata stuttered.

"If you could have used your gentle fist, then you would have easily won this fight." Lee explained.

"...but... but Lee-kun" Hinata complained. "You were wearing you weights the whole time. If you had taken them off, I wouldn't have stood a chance."

"Yes. But you kept fighting even though you knew you couldn't beat me. That is VERY YOUTHFUL!" Lee exclaimed loudly. Gohan could have sworn he saw little flames in the ninja's eyes.

"Lee?" Kakashi asked, "Is that your final decision?"

"Yes sensei." Lee said with certainty.

"Very well. LEE FORFEITS! HINATA WINS BY DEFAULT!"

There was a shocked silence in the hall as the two friends slowly made their way to the back of the hall where Neji and Sakura were busy whispering together. A boy had just viciously pummeled a girl until she looked like a she went through a meat grinder, and then the two walk off chatting as though nothing had happened.

Gohan shuddered at the thought of what his mother would do if he ever beat a girl like that. It just seemed completely contrary to everything he'd been taught since he was three. Despite the fact that his own mother was a vicious fighter, she had drilled it into him that girls were soft creatures and that he was to treat them gently no matter what they did.

But then, isn't that what it came down to? That they would be taught to defend themselves 'By any means necessary?'.

Suddenly Gohan wasn't so thrilled about these fights anymore.

***

"Are you sure it started at your first Defense Against the Dark Arts meeting?" Neji whispered back to Sakura.

"Yes. I remember walking out of that class thinking that Gohan must be up to something. And I'm sure I trusted him before then."

"This is bad. I've experienced the same thing in my first DADA class. Someone may be trying to tamper with our thoughts."

"Is that even possible?"

"This is a magical world. Anything is possible here." Neji remained silent for a few seconds. "Did you learn anything about Gohan during your class? You had your first Muggle Studies class yesterday."

"You don't think that Gohan was the one that made us suspicious of him do you?" Sakura said, voice rising a few decibels.

"Shh..." He silenced her. "Keep your voice down!" He urged.

"No, I don't." Neji admitted. "But I think whoever planted those doubts may be trying to help us." The Jounin explained.

"But why would they? They could just tell us directly."  
"Not if they think we wouldn't listen to them or if they couldn't talk to us directly."

"That's ludicrous! You can't trust someone who tampers with your thoughts more than Gohan!"

"But Gohan is a KI USER" Neji whispered exacerbated. "Maybe they just want us to keep an eye on him."

"Hey guys" Hinata said softly, leaning on Lee. The two ninja looked up at Hinata annoyed at the interruption. But their features softened when they saw Hinata's bruised face.

"Here, let me patch you up." Sakura offered. "Lie down over here" Sakura indicated an open space on the floor next to her.

"What were you guys talking about?" Hinata asked asked as she lied down.

"Gohan. We think someone's been manipulating our thoughts about him. We both started mistrusting him after our first DADA lessons." Sakura explained

"That's funny Sakura-chan." Lee said thoughtfully. "I wouldn't have noticed it if you hadn't mentioned it. But the same thing happened to me."

"But how is that even possible?" Hinata asked meekly as Sakura tended to her bruises.

"That's what we're trying to figure out." The pink haired kunoichi answered gently.

"But if it happened in all of our DADA classes, then the only constants are Snape and the dungeon." Neji said thoughtfully. "So either Snape is manipulating our thoughts, or the room's magic is affecting us."

"Or someone is using the room to tamper with our thoughts." Lee Suggested.

"But Dumbledore trusts Snape." Hinata said on the verge of falling asleep under Sakura's gentle healing. There was silence for a few seconds, as the ninja considered her statement.

"I think" Neji said eventually. "That we'll need to be more careful of what we're thinking. There is no telling what else they can do with our thoughts if we aren't careful. But at the same time, a few suspicions aren't going to hurt us. And I still feel that we should keep an eye on Gohan. We never know, perhaps whoever is doing this is trying to help us." The others nodded their agreement. It wouldn't hurt the young teacher if someone was to keep an eye on him.

"Ano..." Hinata whispered, "But maybe there's a way we can test both the person who is manipulating us and Gohan at the same time."

"What are you suggesting Hinata?" Lee asked seriously.

"I've made some friends in Hufflepuff." Hinata explained. "The third years are doing Boggarts."

"What does that have to do with Gohan-kun?" Neji said impatiently.

"Well, apparantly a boggart shows you your biggest fear. If we could find one, maybe we could find out what Gohan is afraid of."

"Yes, but how would that tell us if Gohan's on our side or not?" Sakura asked.

"... I don't know" Hinata admitted eventually.

"No, I think you're on to something." Neji said thoughtfully. "He's obviously feeling guilty about something. Maybe the boggart will show us what he's afraid of doing. Or what he's afraid of doing again."

"I don't know..." Sakura said eventually. "This seems like a very shaky plan to me. Perhaps we should wait a bit."

"Do you have any better ideas?" Neji asked flatly.

"I think... No, I don't." Sakura admitted

"Then its agreed?"

"...Agreed" Sakura sighed in defeat.

"Hey guys!" Naruto shouted as soon as he was within earshot. When the shinobi looked up they saw Naruto carrying Tenten, who by the looks of things had been knocked out competely. "What did you think of my awesome fight?"

"...?" Sakura said.

"...!" Lee said.

"...?" Neji said.

"...!" Hinata said. All in all, the silence was deafening. Not even Naruto could misread that atmosphere.

"WHAAAT! YOU DIDN'T EVEN WATCH MY FIGHT!"

***

Gohan took of his shoes and let his feet drift in the water. He shuffled around until his back was comfortable against the tree, and took out _Hogwarts: A History. _It was so peaceful here, he thought as he gazed out over the beautiful lake. It reminded him of the waterfall he and Piccolo used to train at.

_Has it really been eight years?_ he wondered. How is it that he could have aged so much, and still be so young? Perhaps it just came down to his early start...

The past two days had passed fairly smoothly for Gohan. The only ones who had tried to attack him so far had been second and third years, who all seemed to favor a direct approach. They seemed to have been emboldened by the shinobi's demonstration fights, as the attacks became far more frequent after that.

But Gohan was worried. He was certain the senior Slytherins would have attacked him before now. They were obviously planning something. And the more time they took to do it, the more nervous he got. But... its only been two days he reasoned. They couldn't possibly trap a Super Saiyan with only two days planning... _Could they?_

Despite Kakashi's promise, they still had to hold rounds two and three. The first round had used up the time that they had been given for the first meeting. But Gohan suspected that they had planned it that way. Now that word had spread of the Sakura's awesome strength and Lee and Hinata's speed, it seemed that almost all the students would be attending the next meeting to watch the finale.

He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that Gohan didn't notice six magical energies converging on him.

"Hey Gohan, what are you reading?" He looked up from his book. It was Harry. Judging by his only slighty bent posture, the boy was getting used to his weights. At this rate Gohan would be able to train Harry again. He hadn't had another session with the boy since he told Harry to wear the weights permanently.

"Hello." Gohan replied in greeting. "Just reading _Hogwarts: A History,_ its rather fascinating."

"I know, but I just wish I could get these two dunderheads to read it." Hermoine said given the other two a reproachful glare. "It would save me a lot of explaining."

"So, can I help you guys?" Asked the young Professor.

"No, we're just enjoying the fresh air until our classes starts. We've got off until the three. You?" Ron answered.

"Trying to catch up." Gohan explained. "There's a lot of reading I have to get through before Monday."

"Really?" Hermoine asked intrigued. "What's going to happen on Monday?"

"I'm going to start with the class project. Everyone from third year to seventh year is going to be working on it."

"Wow" Harry said appreciatively. "It must be some project."

"It is." Gohan said grinning. "But I don't want to spoil the surprise." Gohan said turning his attention back to his book.

"Hey, haven't you already read _Hogwarts: A History?_ I thought I saw it on your desk when you invited me into your room." Harry asked.

"Yes." Gohan agreed. "Very astute of you Harry. But I'm trying to see how we can incorporate magic into the project."

"Like? What kind of magic?" Hermoine asked.

"I'm afraid that I can't tell you that without giving away part of the surprise. You'll just have to wait till Monday's class." Gohan said apologetically. "Hey, come to think of it, I'm seeing you today."

Hermoine smile slid off her face like hot wax.

"Don't remind me" She groaned.

"So?" He asked gently. "Have you made up your mind about Sixteen yet?"

Hermoine looked down at her feet, somewhat ashamed. She hadn't thought of Sixteen since before the dueling tournament. Gohan looked at her sympathetically.

"Don't worry, you'll understand soon." Hermoine only gave a shadow of a nod, still staring determinedly at her feet.

"Was it really that bad?" Harry asked.

"Perhaps I could've started the year slightly more gently." Gohan said apologetically. "But I've never been around people my own age before, so its hard for me to understand what you're ready for."

"Is it true? Are you really a muggle?" Gohan turned around. The speaker was a blond boy who was being flanked by two huge Slytherins. He heard Harry swearing under his breath.

"Go away Malfoy. No one asked you." Harry said coldly.

"Oh yeah. Or what, you're going to protect your vulnerable little muggle from the big bad Malfoy."

"He's far from vulnerable. He's under Dumbledore's protection." As soon as Hermoine said that, Harry wished that she hadn't.

"Yes! That's the only kind of security muggles will ever have, being protected by those who can actually do something!"

Hermoine turned blue with rage, but seemed to be unable to think of a reply. But she didn't need to, Gohan got up from his tree and walked towards Malfoy. If he had even an inkling of fear, he hid it well. "I hope he knows what he's doing." Hermoine said nervously.

"Malfoy listen to me." Gohan said so softly that Harry barely heard it over the wind. "Hatred will destroy everything you hold dear. Don't let it get a hold over you."

"YOU DARE TO LECTURE ME!"

"Malfoy" he said, still using the same gentle tone. "You've got to let go of you're hatred. Don't make the same mistake I did."

"DON'T SPEAK TO ME, FILTH!" Malfoy screamed, taking out his wand.

"Malfoy!" Gohan's tone was hard and cold. Nothing like the gentle tone he used before. "You mistake my kindness for weakness. That would be a dangerous mistake to make. You don't have to like me. But as a teacher at Hogwarts, you will respect me. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes _Siiiir" _He said stretching out the word mockingly. But Gohan didn't seem to notice and smiled happily.  
"Thank you" And started to walk back to his tree.

Harry didn't even have time to think. The next thing he knew a spell shot through the space Gohan occupied a split second ago. Only later did Harry understand he leaned to the side. Faster than he could blink Gohan spun around and back handed Malfoy across the face. The sound of bone breaking echoed like a gunshot over the empty grounds. And then Malfoy lost consciousness.

Crabbe and Goyle stood there for a while, looking stupidly at each other, then having reached some silent agreement, they both lunged at Gohan. Harry couldn't see what Gohan did but the result was clear. They both dropped unconscious next to Malfoy.

Gohan looked from their bodies, eyes full of pain. He never liked hurting other people.

"What do you say we take these guys to the infirmary?" Harry, Ron and Hermoine looked at each other shocked.

"You want to what? They attacked you! You don't have to help them" Ron said aghast

"Unfortunately what I told Mr. Malfoy was true, despite my age and non-magical heritage, I am a professor at Hogwarts, and as such I have a responsibility towards Mr. Malfoy, as much as I do towards you three. Besides," he added with a smile. "I can't go around knocking everyone out who accepts my challenge."

Harry was the first to get out his wand. A minute later Crabbe and Goyle were hanging suspended in mid air in front of Harry and Ron's wands. Gohan had opted to carry Malfoy himself and effortlessly picked up the much larger boy.

"So, uhm, which way is the infirmary?"

As they were walking Hermoine decided to use the time to question the young professor.

"What did you mean when you said Malfoy shouldn't make your mistakes?"

"I'm sorry. But I'm not ready to talk about that yet. Perhaps someday I'll tell you the story."

"Oh, okay." She said looking down, afraid that she spoiled the mood and wouldn't get anymore answers out of the mysterious youth.

"Can I ask something else."

"Certainly"

"What happened between you and Snape?"

"What makes you think something happened between me and _Professor_ Snape?" Gohan corrected.

"He was glaring at you all morning at breakfast. And its not the first time either. He's been doing that ever since you've started here. He doesn't even glare at Harry like that. You must have really done something to get him that mad at you."

"Oh. He he" He laughed sheepishly. "Well, I had an accident in my room on the first night here, and... well... I accidentally caused his roof to collapse. I think he was taking a bath at the time."

Harry and Ron froze. Looked at each other. Blinked twice. Three times. And burst into raucous laughter. The laughed so hard that Crabble and Goyle were dropped unceremoniously from the air. Gohan waited patiently for a few minutes while the two older boys clutched their sides, trying to breath and laugh at the same time.

"Its not THAT funny" He said in the same serious tone that made him seem like a small adult.

"Your... right... its... not... funny..." Ron gasped, "its... hilarious!"

"You wouldn't think it was so funny if you saw him" Gohan said seriously, "He was full of cuts and bruises, not to mention filthy."

"Come to think of it" Gohan added thoughtfully,"He contrasted rather violently with his pristine pink bath towel."

At that Ron and Harry burst into laughter all over again.

"Did you have to do that?" Hermoine said exasperated. "Now they're never going to stop."

"Guys, I have work to do, so if you don't mind, lets keep moving." With great effort, Harry and Ron both levitated Crabbe and Goyle from the ground and continued following after Hermoine still snickering at the mental image.

Hermoine, for her part, was feverishly processing everything she learned from Gohan. There were way to many things that didn't add up. Why did Dumbledore hire a muggle for one thing. How did he move that quickly? Why was he already looking for work, when he was only thirteen? Why did Dumbledore give him such a glowing introduction? What did he mean when he said 'Don't make the same mistake I did'? How did he vanish like that in the great hall? And just what happened to make him this mature? Just how quickly had he been forced to grow up?

Hermoine made a silent vow to unravel the enigma that was Son Gohan...

Madam Pomfrey was less than happy to find out that the new teacher had knocked out three students, breaking one of their jaws. But calmed down ever so slightly when Harry told her that Malfoy was trying to hex Gohan while his back was turned. But she still went about her work muttering about teachers resorting to violence.

"When Mr. Malfoy wakes up, please tell him he's got a detention. For disrespecting a teacher." And with that, Gohan left the helpless three in the capable hands of Madam Pomfrey.

"So, do you know what you're going to make Malfoy do yet? For his detention I mean." Ron asked they walked back to the Lake, still snickering at the mental image of Snape in a pink bath towel.  
"Yes. I think he'll help me with Monday's class. He's going to help me explain why muggles are equal to wizards."

The trio shot looks towards each other. All of them thinking the same thing. _I hope he never gives me a detention. He really knows how to hit a guy where it hurts._

***

Trunks soared high above ground. He had been flying out almost everyday since he heard about the plan to attack London. It didn't take him long to find London, and he spent most of everyday waiting for the inevitable attack against the 'muggle' settlement. He would be damned if he stood by while another world was destroyed by monsters.

Trunks closed his eyes, trying to rub out the grainy feel behind his eyeballs. He really needed to get some sleep. He looked at his watch. It read 2:45 am. If they haven't attacked by now, they probably wouldn't attack before sunrise, he could get at least a few hours sleep before returning to his watch.

The demi-saiyan was just about turn back when he saw it: A thick mist, slowly rolling down the hills towards the unsuspecting suburbs.

The warrior slowly lowered himself towards the ceiling of the mist, contemplating his options. The mist swirled around his feet as the teen readied a ki blast in his hand. It was now or never. Suddenly an all too familiar chill crept up his spine. A chill that had nothing to do with the cold air surrounding him.

Trunks plummeted from the air, completely lost in pain. Piccolo, his father, Gohan. All their deaths passed before his eyes. He was only vaguely aware of hitting the ground. He could see Gohan's mangled body lying infront of him. In that one foul stroke he had lost his friend, his mentor, his guide, his protector and his hope. There was nothing left... Nothing but destruction.

Trunks screamed as the pain of a hard lifetime passed through his body. Then, as suddenly as it came, the feeling was gone. Trunks allowed himself to relax on the cold grass, emotionally exhausted. _What could do that to a saiyan?_ Trunks wondered looking up at the stars drifting above him.

_Wait a minute. Stars? Didn't I fall into mist?_

"NO! Don't tell me I lost consciousness again!" He screamed frantically. He jumped up, throwing open his senses. And immediately detected the large ki that obviously belonged to giants.

Looking around Trunks could see that he was standing in the yard of a double story house. It was intact. _Thank Kami I'm not too late! _Trunks thought. He was just about to blast towards the ki when he noticed that there was a golden glow reflected on the windows of the house.

It took him a moment to recognize that he was the source of light. _I've transformed! _Trunks realized. _So that's why the pain stopped. Apparently those things can't hurt a Super Saiyan._

Now that he was wrapped in the familiar and, apparently, safe power. I was hunting time...

***

"He's getting up" Hinata said, watching Gohan through her Byakugan. "Now he's walking back to the castle."

"What entrance is he going to use?" Sakura asked, carrying the enormous closet as it rattled threateningly.

"Uhm... Main entrance." Hinata said.

"What!" Tenten exclaimed. "I'm not ready yet! Naruto go buy us some time!" The blond ninja immediately darted off towards the main entrance.

"Come on!" Sakura complained. "This thing is getting heavy! How much longer is this going to take?"

"Hey! I can't help it. He put some kind of shield against his door. Neji see if you can do something about this shield."

"Byakugan" Neji activated his Kekkai Genkai. "Its made up out of some kind of energy. Not quite chakra... I think its ki!" He exclaimed.

"But that's impossible!" Tenten almost shouted. "Ki is far too unstable to be used like that!"

"Tenten, we have to accept the fact that this isn't our world anymore. Neither is it Gohan's. For all we know he could be much better at using ki than anyone in our dimension." Neji explained.

"I know that. But ki is just so... explosive. Its hard to imagine anyone being able to force ki into a shape, much less a stable shape. And this shield had to have been standing here ever since he left his room!"

"As fascinating as this conversation is, do you think you could break the shield already! This thing doesn't carry itself you know!" Sakura yelled, still holding up the enormous closet.

"You could always put it down" Neji said flatly.

"Oh" Sakura replied, putting down the closet gently.

"Stand back. I'm going to try and ignite it." Neji explained.

"What! You're going to blow the door off its hinges!" Sakura exclaimed.

"Yeah" Tenten agreed. "It'll be complete giveaway if he comes back to find his door is missing!"

"He's going to know something's up anyway, when he comes back and his shield is gone. Not to mention the small fact that a large closet will mysteriously have appeared in his room!" Neji said, starting to loose his temper. "And do you have any better ideas?" The girls looked at each other silently.

"I thought so. Now stand back. That goes for you too Hinata." The three girls quickly hurried around the corner, waiting for the inevitable BANG. It never came. Slowly Tenten edged back towards Neji. The Jounin was looking at the door with a puzzled expression on his face.

"What happened?" Tenten asked tentatively.

"Its burning." Neji explained. "But very slowly. Its more like its evaporating than burning. I have no idea what Gohan did to make this shield. But he took one of the most explosive energies in the universe and made it incredibly stable."  
"But how is that possible?" Sakura asked as she arrived next to Tenten.

"I don't know. I guess all we can do now is wait for the shield to burn itself up completely. And at the rate its burning, that may take a while..."

**A/N: And there you have it: The winners of the first round are Neji, Hinata and Naruto. Who will win in the second round?**

**Trunks is about to attack the army of Lord Voldemort. How will he fair? **

**And the shinobi are breaking into Gohan's room. What will they find? Will they be caught? And just how is Naruto going to delay Gohan?**

**FIND OUT NEXT TIME ON EXPECTATIONS!**

**P.S. I know that many of you want Gohan to fight in the tournament. Unfortunately that's not going to happen. I've got bigger plans for Gohan. There's going to be a long fight scene with Gohan at the quidditch game in the next chapter or two, so don't worry. The school is going to know about Gohan's phenomenal skills soon enough...**

**P.P.S. Until now, a large portion of each chapter came from work I've already written. But now that I've reached the end of that material, things are probably going to read a little more smoothly from now on.**


	15. Asking for ideas

**Notice:**

**Sorry about taking so long to update. The next chapter is about three quarter done, and will be up within a few days. But I'm not sure I like it so far. So I thought I would ask you guys for some advice. I'm trying to think of a creative, never-been-done-before, method for Naruto to distract Gohan while the shinobi search through his room.**

**I've had a few ideas, but none of them seem to have that unique flare that I'm looking for. Does anyone have any good ideas? Just send them to me in a review.**

**Thanks for the help.**

**P.S: Quadaffi the Ripper, I did get your message and your email. I'll send you the next chapter as soon as I'm done. Thanks for being my new beta.**


	16. Chapter 14

**Sorry for the long wait, please don't kill me. Anyway, here's the next chapter, enjoy...  
**

**Chapter 14**

_Present -_

Shadows danced on the stone walls. A single, flickering candle, all that stood against the encroaching darkness. Sitting back in his leather chair, the auror allowed himself a quick glance towards the clock on the wall.

It read 2:45 am.

"Damn," the large black man muttered. He was just about ready to call it quits for the day. Ever since the Prime minster had been informed that his new 'secretary' was actually a highly trained auror in disguise, his workload had tripled.

The problem was that, as the new 'secretary' to the muggle prime minister, his work consisted primarily out of responding to complaints. And there were a lot of complaints...

Kingsley sighed. He really ought to finish the report before he went home. Tomorrow there would be another enormous stack of paperwork waiting for him. He closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose, hoping to get rid of the grainy feel behind his eyeballs. It has been far too long since he had a decent night's sleep.

He was shaken from his thoughts when the phone next to him started ringing.

_Damn those muggle contraptions are annoying. _He thought. It was was bad enough that they haunted him every minute of the day, but at night as well? Letting out another sigh, he picked up the phone, only mildly curious as to why someone would call the ministry at 3 am.

"Yes." Kingsley muttered tiredly. "How may I help you?"

"Uhm..." A timid voice replied. "Sorry to bother you at this time of night. But are you still open?"

"Actually I'm just about to call it a day. Is there something I can help you with?"

"Yes, actually if you haven't closed up quite yet. I would love to order one pepperoni and one Hawaiian pizza."

"Excuse me?" It took Kingsley a few seconds for Kingsley's tired brain to work out the sentence. Eventually he responded, "Sorry, but just who do you think I am?"

"Uhm... Aren't you John Burbon, the owner of Pizza Corner. The pamphlet says your open 24/7."

"No" Kingsley explained slowly. "This is the prime minister's office. I'm his secretary, Kingsley Shacklebolt."

"Oh..." There was silence for a few seconds on the line.

"If I may ask. Why do you want to order a pizza this time of the night?" Kingsley asked, mildly intrigued.

"Well, I live in a cabin. In the hills just south of London. And this mist drifted through the area about fifteen minutes ago. And me and my daughter suddenly started remembering... terrible things. It was like the happiness was sucked right out of the world."

Kingsley sat upright. This sounded like a textbook dementor attack.

"Yes. And then?"

"Well I thought a nice pizza would cheer us right back up again. But if you ask me, there's something off about this mist."

"Oh really?" Kingsley asked, his heart thumping hard. Was this really what he thought if was?

"Yes. Its like this mist is hiding something. Something more than the eye can see. And I've been hearing strange noises coming from the fog."

"What kind of noises?" Kingsley asked with baited breath.

"Thumping noises. Sounds almost like marching, if you catch my meaning. But there's no way it could be marching of course. Its way too loud to be human marching anyway."

Kingsley dropped the phone. This was worse than he thought. Dementors, attacking London? And if this strange caller was to be believed, with giants. This was a full on invasion! An attack focused at the heart of the magical world.

Without another word, the auror grabbed his wand from the desk. There was a swish from his cloak as he turned, vanishing on the spot.

Abandoned, the telephone kept on talking.

"Aww, its probably just my imagination playing tricks on me. I'll send my daughter to investigate..."

***

He had only arrived at the Ministry of Magic seven minutes ago, but Kingsley was already standing in front of every auror the magical world had at its disposal.

Two hundred and twenty five aurors in total from twenty six different countries stood shoulder to shoulder in a perfect line.

Gathering his hastily scrawled notes, he stepped onto the podium. He was about to brief the aurors on what exactly was going on. If only _he _knew what was going on.

He shot a quick, nervous glance towards Rufus Scrimgeour. As the previous head of the auror's department, and the new minister of magic, it would be Rufus who would lead the counter attack. He took in a deep breath and started to talk brief the highly trained wizards and witches.

The highly trained wizards and witches drank in his every word as he ran through the mission briefing. The plan was a simple one. They were going to form a defensive line outside of London, and prevent any of those 'murdering bastards' from getting into the capital of the magical world.

"Any questions?" Kingsley asked as he finished. Three hands went up. "Yes, you?" He pointed towards the nearest auror.

"How do we plan to counteract the dementors?" The Australian auror asked.

"We're not going to counteract them." Rufus Scrimgeour answered from his position next to Kingsley's podium. "As you all know, it is nearly impossible to cast spells while maintaining a Patronus. With a full on giant attack on our hands, we will need every available wand. Your standing orders are to ignore the dementors and their effects. Is that a problem for anyone?"

"NO SIR!" Came the unanimous chorus. Rufus smirked. It was times like this that he really missed being the head of the aurors. They truly were the world's finest. But he wasn't fooled... No one enjoyed fighting in the presence of dementors. They made everything much harder than it needed to be. And casting a Patronus in an all out battle was out of the question. It was nearly impossible to sustain a Patronus while flinging curses at giants, death eaters and whatever the hell else was going to show up. This was not going to be fun for anyone...

"Any other questions?" Kingsley asked from the podium. This time only one hand was raised. This time it was a woman's hand that was raised. A German, judging from the colors she was wearing.

"I wes vonderin vether Dumbledore vill be cuming?" She asked in a strong German accent.

Rufus watched with distaste as the entire row straightened with interest. Apparently, even in his own ranks, they held the old fool in high regard.

It was to be expected, he reasoned. Every auror had to study, at one point, the battle between Dumbledore and Grindelwald. The power, precision and creativity behind the spells he used were awe-inspiring. If he was famous in the magical world, he was a legend among the aurors.

"I have already notified Dumbledore of the situation." Kingsley admitted. "He has sent word that he would be there personally. And he's given me his word that he would be bring additional reinforcements."

A cheer ran through the ranks. As much as he despised Dumbledore, Rufus couldn't deny the effect the old man had on his soldiers. For the first time since they'd been informed of the situation the highly trained wizards and witches allowed themselves to hope...

***

_Fourteen hours ago -_

Gohan's footsteps echoed loudly through the empty foyer. Though he wouldn't say it, he found the empty castle slightly disturbing. Normally the castle was alive with ki as four thousand students all wove their way through the winding corridors to various classes.

But now, the castle was deserted. Almost all the students were already in Hogsmeade, enjoying the weekend away from Hogwarts. The only other ki hanging around the castle were sixth and seventh year students who still had a few classes until the weekend began in earnest. Even the first and second years who couldn't go to Hogsmeade, seemed to have evaporated.

In fact, Gohan still had to give class to the sixth year students before he could begin his own weekend. Unfortunately he only saw them at three, so he still had a good two hours to waste before the class started.

Originally Gohan had thought that he would spend that time reading up on the class project. But after several hours of reading _Hogwarts: A History_ Gohan just couldn't read any more and decided that it would perhaps be more fruitful if he spent that time giving his brain a break.

He had just set foot on the grand staircase, when he noticed Naruto's ki. Apparently the loud blond was storming towards the foyer.

Just as he expected, Naruto burst from a corridor at the top of the stairs.

A look of relief crossed Naruto's face when he saw the demi-saiyan.

"Gohan" Naruto said with a smile. "There you are. I've been looking for you."

"Really?" Gohan asked surprised. "Can I help you with something?"

"I finally finished my week's classes." The blond explained. "I wanted to start my weekend with a bang! But everyone's busy."

"I see." Gohan thought he knew where this was going.

"But you're not doing anything." Naruto pointed out. "So I thought we could do something fun."

"Well I was just about to return this book to my room. You want to come with me?"

"NO!" Naruto shouted. Suddenly he looked a bit sheepish as he realized just how loud his outburst had been. "Uhm..." he thought quickly. "What I mean is that you... uhm... only have a few... hours before... you... have to give class to Sakura-chan. There won't be enough time to go back to your room and... uhm... go to..." Naruto cast about wildly looking for the furthest place from Gohan's room. "Uhm... Hogsmeade?" He said eventually.

"You want to go to Hogsmeade?" Gohan asked. "I thought you would have wanted to do something more physical."

"Yes." Naruto said forcefully. The truth was that he had in fact been dying to get out and do a bit of training. But if he was going to keep Gohan out of his own room, he had to convince him that he didn't have enough time. And that meant Hogsmeade.

"That's not such a bad idea." Gohan admitted. "I've read that they've got all kinds of strange foods there." He said drooling slightly at the thought.

"Dattebayo!" Naruto agreed grinning at Gohan's goofy expression.

"So, do you know which way to go?" The young professor asked his blond friend. Naruto looked thoughtful for a minute, then broke into a huge grin.

"Nope" He admitted. "But you said that you can sense physical energy. Can't you just locate everyone's ki?"

Gohan closed his eyes, searching for the familiar ki that had haunted the castle ever since he arrived. But to his shock he could only sense the few students still left inside Hogwarts.

"No" Gohan admitted. "I think the castle's magic is blocking me from sensing anyone outside. This book" he lifted _Hogwarts: A History_, "said that there is magic preventing muggles from detecting the school. Perhaps that magic is also blocking me from detecting anything outside the castle." Gohan explained.

"Well then its decided." Naruto declared. "We're going this way." He pointed towards the main entrance.

Gohan raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Ninja's intuition." Naruto explained.

***

"I don't believe it." Gohan said looking out over the magical village.

"Yeah." Naruto agreed. "Its awesome, isn't it."

"No, I meant 'I don't believe Naruto's intuition actually got us here'." Gohan explained.

"Why is everyone always surprised when I do something right?" Naruto said softly. Gohan laughed.

"Come on. Lets try Honeyduke's first." Gohan said pulling Naruto down from the castle towards the village below.

***

As soon as the ki shield evaporated, Tenten got to work on the lock. A few seconds later, the door opened with a soft click.

Neji walked into the room first, followed by Tenten and Hinata. Sakura again picked up the rattling closet and squeezed through the large door.

Neji was already busy digging through the desk drawers, but Hinata and Tenten stood frozen, trying to decide where to begin searching. The spacious room, it seemed, was filled with bookshelves. Hundreds of books lined the walls. Categorized according to subject were books ranging from the _The History of Magic_ to _Advanced Quantum Physics_.

Where he got all these books were a mystery to the shinobi. But they both understood that it was going to make searching the room a lot harder.

Stepping onto the plush red carpet, Sakura searched through the room for an open space to put the, still rattling, cupboard in. Eventually she decided to put it right next to his fireplace. It seemed spectacularly out of place, but it was the only place she could put it without having to move one of the bookshelves.

Standing back to admire her handiwork, she was again struck by the sheer volume of reading material. No one could read through all that. Could they?

"When you're done gawking, I would appreciate a bit of help." Neji said sharply. "We don't know how long Naruto will be able to stall Gohan."

The three kunoichi immediately jumped into action. Tenten started going through the bookshelves, looking for a hiding place, while Hinata took the kitchen and Sakura the bedroom.

The continued searching the room for several minutes when suddenly Tenten's voice shot through the room.

"Hey guys! Look at this!" She was immediately surrounded by the other ninja.

"What is it?" Neji asked seriously.

.

"Look at this." Tenten said holding up an old diary. The words "Diary of Son Gohan" were written in Japanese across the faded cover.

"Ano..." Hinata muttered. "But isn't that diary a little old to be Gohan's."

"That's what I thought." Tenten said. "So I looked paged through it. This page caught my eye." She opened the diary on a page that was titled _12 December 2023. _

Sakura could see why the faded page caught her eye. The kanji were obviously written in a great hurry. The pen had, at places, torn completely through the page. There were blotches were the pen had rested for too long. But most eye catching were the tear stains that littered the page.

Tenten put the diary down on Gohan's desk and told them to read it. Looking over Neji's shoulder, Sakura started reading the messy kanji.

_**12 December 2023**_

_Trunks-_

_I've been thinking recently. When your father faced the androids on his own, I hated him for it. He knew he would die, but he went anyway. I hated him for dying, for not letting me help. I hated him, and Krillen and Yamcha and Tien. I hated my father for dying when. . ._

Here, the word "I" was crossed out.

_. . . we needed him. . ._

A large pool of ink here.

_. . .I hated Piccolo-san. Him most of all. He was going to die, and he must have known how much that would hurt, but he didn't even say goodbye._

_I've been thinking, though, and I've realized something. I. . ._

Gohan had almost ripped through the paper in emphasizing "I."

_. . . would have died if I'd gone with him. With them. That wasn't the surprising part, though. What I mean is that they were going to keep fighting, and they were going to die either way, and if I'd been there I would have died too. _

_I don't have a choice in fighting those tin monsters. As long as I'm able, I need to do my best. And each time I go to fight them, you're going to want to come, and one of these days you'll die. Without me, though, you won't go. I think you know what you aren't strong enough. You'll wait, and when you're old enough and powerful enough you'll challenge them. Not before then. Not when you'll be killed so easily._

_So, I will go, and I will do my best, and I will do it without putting you at risk._

_Goodbye, Trunks_

Sakura stared at the letter in shock.

"That sounds like..." She stuttered, "A suicide note."  
"I know," Tenten said softly, "And look at this."

Tenten paged through the worn dairy. The next page was blank. As was the page after that. And the page after that.

"Whoever wrote in this dairy, obviously never wrote in it again." She summarized.

"But its Gohan's diary." Hinata muttered. "Why would he write a suicide note. He doesn't look like he's about to kill himself."

"I think" Neji said slowly, testing the words they formed. "That this may be Gohan's father's diary. Its way too old to be Gohan's, and perhaps he was named after his father. Then they would both be Son Gohan."

"That makes sense." Sakura agreed. "But look at the date. It says 12 December _2023._ That's fourteen years in the future."

"Yes" Hinata put in. "But if he's from another dimension they might have a different calendar to ours."

"What if this Trunks person mentioned in the diary is really the Gohan we know." Tenten asked. "I mean. What if he took his sensei's name after he died? As a way to honor him?"

There was silence for a few minutes as the Shinobi considered what that would mean. Neji was the first to brake the silence.

"Whatever the case, we can't make sense of that right now. Bag it. We can search the diary for clues later." Tenten nodded, before dropping the diary into the bag around her waist.

"Ano..." Hinata muttered nervously. "But what is that?" She asked, pointing towards a stone basin sitting on the table next to Gohan's bed.

"That's a pensieve." Sakura answered automatically. "It stores someone's memories inside. He showed us a memory in class."

"So..." Neji pondered, "That's Gohan's memories?"

"Could be." Sakura said off handedly. "I don't know if there's a way to find out who's memories are stored in inside."

"I can think of one way to find out." Neji said with a smirk.

"Ano..." Hinata stuttered. "Are... you sure this is a good idea?"

***

An hour and a half later later the two fighters found themselves just outside of The Three Broomsticks, loaded down with several bags full of sweets, jokes and magical novelties. Having never been in a magical village before, the duo took it upon themselves to sample everything.

"I have to head back soon." Gohan told Naruto. "I have to give get ready for my next class."

"Aww" Naruto complained, throwing his best puppy-eyed look. "But we came all this way, the least you could do is buy me a butterbeer."

"What?" Gohan asked incredulously. "Why do I have to buy you a butterbeer? You invited me, so technically its your treat."

"But... but you're the one who's earning a big salary." Naruto complained.

"Hey, you're also getting paid to stay at Hogwarts. And what's more, you're getting paid to protect it from the most dangerous person in this world, which has to have some sort of danger pay included. I've just got a lowly teacher's salary."

"Lowly teacher's salary! Do you know what they pay teachers at Hogwarts!?" Naruto practically shouted.

"Uhm... No... Not really" Gohan admitted. "Do you?" Naruto grinned sheepishly.

"He he" He laughed scratching the back of his head. "I guess not. But danger pay is a really good idea. I should mention that to Granny Tsunade."

"Okay, how about this. I'll pay this time, if you pay for our next visit?"

"Deal" Naruto said, pushing open the door.

Shifting his bags so that the weight was distributed more evenly, Gohan followed Naruto through the narrow door.

As he stepped through the doorway, he was immediately assaulted by a cacophony of noise as dozens of patrons chattered away with each other. Breathing in a deep breath of the smoke-filled atmosphere, Gohan looked around for an open seat.

A curvy sort of woman with a pretty face walked up to Naruto.

"Table for two?" She asked politely.

"Hai!" Naruto said energetically.

"That means yes." Gohan said from behind, answering the woman's questioning look.

"Certainly." The woman smiled warmly at her two new customers. "Right this way." She seated them in a relatively quiet corner at the back of the room.

"I'm Madam Rosmerta." She introduced. "Now what can I get you two gentlemen?"

"Uhm, I don't really know." Gohan admitted, rubbing the back of his head in typical Son fashion. "I'm a muggle, so I've never had anything like the stuff on your menu. What do you recommend?"

"You're a muggle!" Madam Rosmerta blurted out a bit too loudly. The atmosphere changed instantly. Where it was loud, noisy and crowded before, the room suddenly seemed very spacious as everyone froze in their tracks. A deafening silence now inhabited the inn.

"Yes." Gohan said lightly. "Is that a problem?"

Madam Rosmerta paled and while she stuttered out an apology Gohan scanned the room with his eyes. Everyone was watching Madam Rosmerta, obviously curious as to what her next move would be.

"Uhm..." Naruto said, obviously thinking very quickly. "Just two butterbeers please."

"O...Of course." She mumbled, before scurrying away to get the order.

The silence slowly faded away as patron began chatting again. Naruto, satisfied that the awkward moment had passed turned his attention back to Gohan.

"What do you think that was about?" He asked the young teacher. But Gohan, who's sensitive hearing could clearly pick up most of the whispers, was under no such illusion...

He focused on what a warlock was telling a hag about his 'audacity'. They both seemed to think that Gohan was intentionally trying to start a civil war within the magical community.

"After all," the hag commented, "a muggle's role in the magical community is a very sensitive topic." The warlock only nodded in agreement.

After a few seconds of listening in on their conversation he noticed that Naruto's hand was waving in front of his face.

"Huh?" He mumbled distractedly, trying to follow what they were saying about muggles right groups.

"You seem kinda out of it. Are you alright?"

"Yeah," Gohan said pulling himself back to the present. "I guess I just didn't realize how volatile the current socioeconomic situation is inside the magical community.

"Huh?" Naruto asked confused. "I think my translation spell is starting to wear off. Say that in Japanese."

"Sorry," Gohan apologized. "What I mean is, I just didn't realize how complicated things are. I thought everyone would just accept me. Or at least give me a chance to prove myself."

"But haven't they? I thought you weren't being attacked as much anymore."

"That's true." Gohan admitted. "But now I think that has more to do with how easily I stopped the other attacks. I think they're trying to come up with some sort of foolproof plan. But the students still seem to think its more a matter of honor than anything. Its the adults outside Hogwarts that I'm worried about. I think, that they're afraid of what will happen to their world if muggles are allowed to take part in wizarding affairs."

"Bah, I'm sure you're just over thinking things." Naruto said, dismissing all Gohan's fears. "And I'm pretty sure you'll figure it out. Just don't ask me to do it. Everyone's always telling me that I'm not very diplomatic. Although when they say it, it sounds more like this: "NARUTO! STOP SAYING STUPID THINGS!"

Gohan couldn't help it. He laughed. There was something so pure and straight forward about him, that Gohan couldn't help but feel somehow at ease. More relaxed than he could remember in the past two years. Only his father ever made him feel like that...

Naruto knew there was something wrong when Gohan's eyes suddenly looked down sadly. He knew that look. It was the same look Sasuke got every time he thought about his family. And it was the same look he wore every time he thought of Sasuke.

Jiraya had once asked him about that expression. He had just gone away with Naruto and had had yet to learn about Naruto's history with Sasuke. He simply explained that it felt like he had lost someone very important to him. He'll never forget what Jiraya did next. He stopped, sat down, and said, "Tell me about that person.".

For the next to hours, he didn't say a word as Naruto rambled on about Sasuke, and how unfair it was that the first person who ever acknowledged him, had to lose everyone he cared about. He was never the same after those two hours. Just having someone to listen take the time to listen to him as he poured out his heart was of inestimable value.

He turned his attention back to Gohan who still staring sadly at his lap. There was a small amused smile on his face.

"Tell me about that person." Naruto said softly.

"Huh?" Gohan looked up. "What do you mean?"

"The person your thinking about, tell me about him... or her."

Gohan smiled softly. "Am I that transparent?"

"Yes." Naruto answered simply. "Ah, thank you." He beamed at Madam Rosmerta who had brought two mugs full of butterbeer. She returned with a small smile, before quickly attending to her other patrons.

"So? Who is that you're thinking about?"

"My dad." Gohan said softly. He looked up at Naruto, who didn't say anything, just sipping his butterbeer quietly. Taking it as he cue to continue, Gohan took in a deep breath and started talking.

***

Sakura felt her feet touch down on a wooden floor seconds before the usual swirl of colors around her focused into a small cottage. Light poured in through a dusty window, bathing the room in a soft, warm light.

She turned around, taking in the quaint features of the room. It was a bedroom, judging by the color scheme it was a belonged to a young boy. Instead of the typical posters that decorated a teenager's room, the walls were lined with sketches. Sakura was still perusing an exquisitely drawn picture of a green dragon surrounded by orange spheres when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

Turning around she saw that Tenten, Neji and Hinata had also entered the memory.

"What do you make of this?" She asked Tenten.

"Hmm," Tenten bent over for a closer look. "He's a very talented artist. Why? Is there something I should see?"

"I guess not. It just gives me a strange feeling. Like its important somehow."

"Where is Gohan?" Neji asked. "If this is his memory, shouldn't he be here?"

"I don't know." Sakura admitted. "But come to think of it, he wasn't in the memory he showed us in class either."

"There he is!" Hinata shouted.

The three ninja turned towards the kunoichi who was pointing out of the window. Sure enough, Gohan was standing on the lush green grass below the second story window. Though, standing was a bit of a stretch. He was slouched over, like the weight of the world was on his shoulders, his obliterated gi only added to his worn appearance.

The shinobi watched him intently, convinced that this memory must be of utmost importance if it was in the pensieve. But Gohan just stood staring at the door, apparently afraid to enter...

After a few minutes Gohan's bedroom door opened. A middle-aged woman walked into through the door. She was dressed in a traditional chinese dress with her hair up in a tight bun. She sighed as she looked at around the empty bedroom.

"Come home safe." She said in a soft, almost pleading, tone. "I can't lose you... Not again."

Brushing a tear away, she took a shirt out of the clothing basket, before folding it and placing it inside the chest-of-drawers that stood next to the bed. The four shinobi watched intently, certain that something was going to happen soon. But the woman continued to calmly fold and pack Gohan's clothing away.

"Why is nothing happening?" Neji ground out in frustration. "We don't have time for this nonsense. Sakura, can we speed this up?"

"Wait!" Tenten shouted. "Look! Gohan's moving."

Sure enough, Gohan was slowly moving towards the front door. Every step more forced than the last. When he reached the door, he froze. Taking in a deep breath... he knocked.

The woman jumped up at the sound, storming towards the front door, knocking over the clothing basket in the process. But she either didn't notice, or didn't care making a beeline for the front door.

The shinobi ran after her, easily keeping up with the raven-haired woman. She screeched to a halt in front of the door. She took a few seconds to compose herself, before calmly opening the door.

"Gohan! You're alive!" She leaped onto the small boy, covering him in a hug. "Don't you ever..."

"Mom," he said in a pained whisper.

"... do that to me! When Goku gets here I'm going to kill him! What was he thinking taking you to the Cell Games!"

"Mom..." he tried again.

"Of all the irresponsible things he's done this is by far the worst!" She paused as looked down at her son. It was immediately obvious to everyone that he'd been crying.

"Gohan..." The fire had completely drained out of her voice. In its place was a fearful quiver. "...Where's Goku?" She asked softly. Gohan took a deep breath.

"Mom... he's not coming back..." Fresh tears ran down his cheeks yet again. "I'm sorry... Mom... I'm so sorry." He clung fiercely, crying to her side. Suddenly, Gohan seemed small and weak. Gone was his confident posture and warm smile. In their place, was a small, broken boy...

"What..." The older woman said in disbelief, unconsciously holding her son. "But... but... He's always come back."

"I'm so sorry..." Gohan said crying into her dress. "Its all my fault... If I just..."

"You mean... he's really..." Her face was frozen, completely unemotional as she fought to keep control. Gohan only nodded in reply.

"... Dragonballs?" She asked weakly. The shinobi looked at each other confused.

"He's already been brought back." Gohan said simply. "I'm so sorry..." He mumbled again.

Suddenly the once proud woman crumpled to the floor, completely defeated. She let out an earsplitting cry of pain that seemed to stretch into eternity. Eventually she broke down into quiet sobs.

Sakura felt like she was intruding in something extremely private as she watched the small boy trying to comfort his grief stricken mother, just when she thought she'd had more than she could take Neji finally said, "We've seen enough. Let's get out of here before Gohan comes back."

The three kunoichi nodded in agreement. "Ano... How do we get out of here?" Sakura was just about to respond when Neji rose his hands in a familiar seal.

"NO!" She yelled, just as Neji yelled,

"KAI!"

The result was immediate. The pensieve's complex weave of different magics shattered and the four ninja were blasted apart landing in different parts of Gohan's room.

"Ow..." Tenten commented. "Is everyone alright?"

"Yes."

"Yes."

"I think so..."

The four shinobi picked themselves off the luxurious carpet, nursing several aches and bruises.

"Well that was pointless." Neji said dismissively. "All we learned as that his father died. That doesn't get us anywhere."

"We learned he feels guilty about it. Maybe it was his fault?" Tenten reasoned.

"But doesn't every child feel guilty when a parent dies?" Sakura asked. Somehow, she couldn't think of Gohan as evil anymore. Not after watching him crying like that.

"Ano..." Hinata interrupted, "But don't you have class now?" Sakura looked down at her watch and paled.

"GO!" Neji shouted. "If you're late it could ruin everything! We'll meet up and discuss everything tonight!"

Sakura nodded in agreement and stormed off towards the classroom...

***

"And we spent the whole year together. Just training and talking." Gohan recalled fondly. "I remember one night that he told me his biggest fear was me or my mother dying..." He took a sip another sip of his butterbeer. "I guess that's why it was so easy for him."

"Easy for him to do what?" Naruto asked, captivated. He'd never met his own father and hearing someone else talk so lovingly about their own created an ache inside him he couldn't quite place. There was something special about a father. Maybe if he listened hard enough, he could figure out what it was.

"Easy for him to die." Gohan said simply. "He died saving me."

"How did he die?" Naruto asked softly, almost reverently.

"In my universe, there was this... creature." Gohan said, softly, Naruto hanging onto his every word. "I could've stopped him... If only... If only I'd killed him when I had the chance... But, I didn't. I wanted to cause him pain for everything he's put us through. I wanted to torture him..."

Gohan took a deep breath, staring intently into his butterbeer.

"Then, when he realized he couldn't beat me, he decided to do something terrible."

"What?" Naruto asked, completely mesmerized by Gohan's story.

"He was going to self-destuct. He was going to put all his energy into one massive blast. He was going to blow up the whole planet... Just to spite me." Gohan said sadly.

Naruto's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. _Did he really just say the... the whole planet?! _Naruto's brain fought furiously to absorb this new piece of information. But, the more he tried, the less things seemed to make sense.

All this time, the other ninjas were afraid that Gohan might be capable of killing Dumbledore in a suicide attack. They never once considered that he might have enough power to take out a whole planet... They never even considered that there could exist a jutsu with that much power! _ And Gohan said he did that "when he realized he couldn't beat me..."! Just how strong is Gohan?!_

Naruto was so shocked at the revelation that he didn't realize his enviroment was becoming steadily darker. When he finally looked up, he didn't see Gohan. Instead he stood before an enormous black gate.

"Huh?" Naruto looked around confused. "What am I doing back here?"

**I brought you here**

"What did you do that for stupid fox?" Naruto shouted. "Take me back!"

Suddenly the cavernous room was filled with a thunderous noise that echoed of the unseen walls, vibrating through his body. At first Naruto thought the fox was roaring at him in anger, but as he listened to the continuing noise, he realized that the fox was actually laughing at him.

"What the hell is so funny!" Naruto shouted, enraged.

**Ignorant brat! **The demon fox shouted. **You will get out when I'm done talking with you!**

"Heh?" Naruto squinted into the darkness, trying to see the fox behind the enormous bars. "About what?"

**Are you that stupid?**

"You don't have to insult me." Naruto said pouting.

**Have you forgotten already? About Gohan?**

"Oh..." Naruto looked down. "Is this about that guy almost blowing up their planet?"

**Yes. **There was silence for a few seconds. **As much as I hate to admit it, even I don't have that much power.**

"What!" Naruto shouted. "Are you saying that creature Gohan was talking about is stronger than you are?"

**Yes... **The fox's voice became drastically softer, almost as though it was musing to itself. **Maybe, there is too much that I don't know...**

"But Sakura-chan said that Ki-users only have one attack that they can use. The _Saishyuu _something?

**Idiot. How do you think Ki-users build up enough Ki for the _Saishyuu Saido no Waza_?**

"Uhm... Practice?"

**And how do you practice a self-destruct attack?**

"..."

**Precisely. You have to increase your Ki first. And the only way to do that is by using you Ki.**

"So... You're saying that Gohan has other Ki techniques?"

**Yes. And if Gohan has enough Ki to destroy a planet...**

Silence settled into the room as both boy and bijuu considered what that meant. Eventually, when the Kyuubi spoke again, its words were slow and thoughtful.

**Whatever the case, we know that Gohan is dangerous. We have to find out exactly how dangerous he is.**

"You're scared of him, aren't you?" Naruto said grinning.

**I AM THE KYUUBI! **The creature roared. **I AM NOT AFRAID OF ANY PATHETIC HUMAN!**

"Okay, okay." Naruto conceded. "So, how do you want to test him? You want me to fight him?"

The Kyuubi roared in laughter. **You? You couldn't even beat Kakashi! **Naruto blushed as the Kyuubi continued in his roaring laughter.

"You've made your point!" Naruto shouted eventually. "What do you propose?"

**Its simple. Find out how heavy his weights are...**

"Of course!" Naruto shouted. "That's brilliant! By doing that we can figure out how much Ki he has!"

**Of course its brilliant! **The Kyuubi barked. **What do you expect from my ideas?**

"Baka fox" Naruto muttered under his breath. "He's got a bigger ego than the entire Uchiha clan put together."

"Helloooo? Naruto?" Naruto looked up into Gohan's worried expression.

"Gohan?"

"Who were you expecting?" Gohan asked grinning with a relieved smile. "You had me worried there for a second?"

"Sorry, I guess I zoned out for a second."

"No kidding." Gohan said seriously. "Who were you talking to?"

"Talking to?" Naruto asked.

"Yes. It sounded like you were arguing with some kind of fox."

Naruto froze. He had no idea that he actually spoke out loud when he was in his mindscape. He quickly cast around for ideas. Anything that would make it this seem less embarresing...

"Does this have something to do with what happened at the sorting?"

"Huh?" Naruto asked trying to remember what had happened at the sorting.

"Don't you remember? You told the sorting hat to shut-up. Something about too many voices..."

"Oh..." Naruto's eyes widened in realization. Gohan was smarter than he looked.

The Kyuubi hadn't taken kindly to the hat allowing itself access into Naruto's mind. And the hat, in turn, didn't like the idea of an extremely powerful evil being hiding inside a Hogwarts student...

"He he" Naruto laughed nervously. The Kyuubi was still a sensitive topic for the blond ninja. But on the other hand, Gohan had told him how his father had died. Perhaps he could return the favor. _And it would make it a lot easier to get answers out of Gohan, if he isn't suspecting that I'm hiding something._ Taking a deep breath, Naruto started to explain...

"Do you know what a Bijuu is?"

"A tailed-beast? In my dimension there are a few myths and a handful of legends. But I doubt they were ever based on anything real. Why? Do you have Bijuu in your dimension?"

"Yes." Naruto said softly. "They are more than myths. They are enormous creatures made entirely out of Chakra. Their power is unbelievable. And their blood lust... insatiable."

"So what do you do? How do you protect yourselves from the Bijuu?" Gohan whispered.

"There is only one thing that works... Sealing them up inside a living person. That person is then called a Jinchuuriki..."

"And... You're a Jinchuuriki?" Gohan asked in a quiet whisper.

Naruto smiled sadly. That was all the answer that Gohan needed.

"So when you were talking to that fox just now..."

"I was talking to the Kyuubi sealed up inside me." Naruto finished.

"So... The sorting hat knew about the Kyuubi?"

"Yes. It didn't like the fact that there was an evil monster hiding in me, so it tried to expel the Bijuu. And the Kyuubi didn't like the Sorting hat intruding into its private space trying to evict it from my body."

"So... What happened?"

"Well, I'm not sure really. All I know is that eventually the two of them started screaming insults at each other. The Kyuubi wasn't affected by the hat's magic, and the hat wasn't affected by the Kyuubi's Chakra."

"But, let me guess: They both had an affect on you?"

"That's an understatement. With powerful magic having a war in my body with powerful Chakra... It felt like a hundred years of PMS had been squeezed into five minutes. Eventually I just had enough so I threw down the hat, and chose to sit next to Sakura."

"That's..." Gohan's eyes suddenly widened as he quickly looked down at his watch. "Oh crap! I've got to go, I'm sorry, but I'm going to be late for my class." Gohan jumped up out of his chair, quickly fished out a single gallon and put it on the table. "If Madam Rosmerta comes while you're still here. Tell her she can keep the rest as a tip."

Gohan gathered up his bags and was just about to make a dash for the castle when Naruto shouted,

"Wait!" He quickly gathered up his own bought items and stood next to Gohan. "I'll race you."

Gohan hesitated. He could run a lot more quickly if he didn't have to hide his speed from Naruto. But then he did have five minutes. Perhaps running at Naruto's speed could get them there in time. Besides if Naruto couldn't make it, it would be suspicious if he was somehow miraculously on time.

But on the other hand, Naruto was a trained ninja, running at his speed would probably be suspicious anyway. "Okay," Gohan said making up his mind. "But you better be prepared to run quickly."

"Gotcha" Naruto said. "But perhaps we should wait till we're outside before we start running."

***

**I know I said that there would be a lot of things happening in this chapter. But as I started writing it, I realized that there are still some stuff that needs to happen first(hence the present/fourteen-hours-ago thing). Originally this chapter was going to get all of the details out of the way before things started to get epic, but then the chapter started to get very long, so in the end I decided to break it up into two chapters. I hope to finish the rest of this chapter in a week or two...**

**I just want to give credit to GrayCardamon for the diary entry. It was originally posted in his story The Hidden Side, which is an excellent story, and I highly recommend it to everyone. I messaged him asking if I could use it, but he still hasn't responded. But if it bothers anyone, then I will remove it.**

**I know a lot of people have been hoping that the memory would be the Cell Games, and I'm planning on doing that, but I want Gai, Lee, Kakashi and Naruto to be present for that, and they all had been occupied during their first trip into Gohan's memories.**

**Lastly, I just want to thank everyone for their great ideas regarding ways in which Naruto could destract Gohan. In the end I settled for a mix between them, I'm still not happy with how it turned out. But after having rewritten it fifteen times, I just decided to leave it the way it was.**


	17. 15: Blast From the Past

**Chapter 15**

Sakura frantically dashed down the winding corridors, hoping to reach the classroom before Gohan did. But while her legs were furiously pumping back and forth, her head was frozen. She just couldn't get that small, broken boy out of her mind. He seemed so... devastated.

It was hard to believe that the boy who had fearlessly stared down over four thousand wizards, inviting them to attack him, was the same boy who couldn't look his mother in the eyes. _Just what had happened to break someone so strong, so completely?_

As she rounded the last corner, she skid to a halt. The entire class was waiting outside the door. _That's strange, I could have sworn that I was late for class, _she thought.

Without missing a step, the medic-nin took a practiced breath, quickly expelling any adrenaline that may have made it into her system. She didn't want to look like she had just been running. And she _really _didn't want to look like she had been running from Gohan's office.

Forcing her posture into a relaxed stance, she casually approached her fellow classmates.

"Hey guys," She greeted with a warm smile. "What are you all doing outside?"

"Gohan hasn't arrived yet." Lavender answered in a soft voice, rubbing her crossed arms nervously.

Looking around the group, it seemed Lavender wasn't the only one. The others were just as subdued as the Gryffindor girl. Hermoine stared at the door, opening her mouth periodically as though she had thought of something to say. Dean and Ernie kept their eyes on the floor, darting up only when someone else spoke. Alice kept fidgeting with her fingers...

_Probably just anxious, _Sakura concluded. After all, it wasn't everyday that you saw someone's head crushed in your first class. They were all, no doubt, afraid of what his next class had in store for them.

And speaking of Gohan, where was he? And why wouldn't he show up for class? _Just how effective was Naruto's diversion?_

XXXXXXX

The demi-saiyan in question was unconscious, lying in an uncomfortable, twisted position, inside the crater his impact with the castle wall had created. His precious Hogsmeade mementos scattered around him.

A frying pan, of all things, laying innocently at his feet. Or at least it would have looked innocent if it wasn't for the ominous indentation right in the middle of the piece of cookware.

The reason for his unconsciousness, however, was neither the wall nor the ever growing crowd of students gathering around him. It wasn't even the frying pan. Instead, the reason for his unconsciousness had more to do with the thin stream of blood, dripping out of his nose.

"Geez, Naruto." One Gryffindor girl remarked. "What did you do to him? Ram him into the castle with a bus?"

"Hehe," was Naruto's only reply as he rubbed the back of his head. Truth be told, he had no idea what had happened.

As far as he could remember, they were still racing towards his classroom, when he noticed that Gohan was winning. It was only a slight lead, but he could tell that the youth was still withholding the lion's share of his speed. So, not wanting to lose, he used the most powerful weapon in his arsenal: The Sexy-no-Jutsu.

Gohan had immediately turned beet-red, closed his eyes and ran head first into the castle... But where the crater, or frying pan, came from... only Kami knew.

"Dude!" Ron shouted as he and Harry joined the group standing around the unconscious teacher. "You've landed the first hit that anyone's been able to get on Gohan! You know what this means? You might actually win the competition!"

"I don't know about that." Naruto admitted. "I didn't actually do anything."

"Are you kidding!" A second year Ravenclaw boy shouted. "Haven't you guys ever read _Hogwarts: A History! _The school is magically fortified. You don't smash through its walls by accident!"

Harry, who had moved to examine Gohan's crater, couldn't help but agree. Already the smaller, hairline cracks where starting to disappear. If the castle had enough magic to heal itself, surely it had enough magic to prevent a great deal of damage. Rubbing his hand over the minute cracks, he couldn't help but marvel at the strange feeling of magical Ki drifting through the wall. Although his sensing skill was still in its infancy, he could make out distinct swells of magic moving just beneath his fingers.

The magical energy, however, was nowhere nearly as pronounced as the life force that Gohan had taught him to detect in people. It was subtle, almost to the point of being invisible. If he had to make a comparison, he would say that the magic inside Hogwarts was visible in the same way that clouds were visible in the night sky. Wizards, in contrast, were like bright candles in the dark.

If the ancient magic that protected the greatest magical creation in wizarding history, was this faint in comparison to the magic that dwelled in wizards, did that meant that they were only scratching the surface of their potential? Gohan had certainly seemed shocked at the enormous changes that his pathetic "Ki blast" had wrought on a simple rock.

Harry shuddered as he remembered the overwhelming feeling of pressure Gohan had exuded when he 'increased his Ki'. It completely dwarfed the combined feeling of everyone inside Hogwarts, and if that was any indication of what he could teach Harry to achieve...

"Harry!"

"Huh?" Harry looked up to see that only Ron and Naruto where left. Apparently the others had decided an unconscious person could only be intriguing for only so long.

"Don't zone out like that, I was starting to worry that your brain had been addled by magic." Harry almost laughed at that statement, it seemed like a ludicrous idea in the bright sunlight. But, Harry caught himself just before he did as his eye flicked over the scar that just barely poked out of Ron's school robes. Those scars, that were stubbornly resisting Madam Pomfrey's weekly treatings, were the result of their little excursion to the Department of Mysteries last year. An excursion that he had started himself, because his "brain had been addled", as Ron put it, well within the safe limits of Hogwarts.

"Sorry, Ron." Harry apologized. "What were you saying?"

"We need to get him to the infirmary." Ron repeated in a tone that suggests he had repeated it at least three times in last few minutes.

"Right," Harry stooped down, seized one of Gohan's wrists and pulled.

And pulled.

And pulled.

But the wrist, and the small blue weighted band wrapped around it, stubbornly refused to budge.

Almost immediately, Naruto seized the other wrist, with similar results.

XXX

After several fruitless minutes, neither Harry nor Naruto had managed to get either weight to shift by the tiniest fraction. Naruto knew that he was no where near Sakura's level with using Chakra to increase strength, but he should at least get the damn thing to budge!

Following Harry's lead, he collapsed onto the grass panting heavily.

"Damn, just how strong is he?" He asked no one in particular, wiping the thin layer of sweat from his forehead..

"I don't know." Harry answered, looking just as exhausted. "But I'm starting to get a new appreciation for what he's capable of." Naruto only nodded in agreement, too tired to speak.

"Well, you know what this means?" Ron asked from the spot he had retired to several minutes before the others.

When neither Harry, nor Naruto, answered he pulled out his wand. "We need to cast a spell on a Professor." He said with a grin that suggested a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Shooting another glance at the innocent, blue wrist band, Harry couldn't help but think back to the incredible pressure that Gohan had exuded. Although, he couldn't identify it at the time, he now knew what it was: Power.

"If we want to get him to the infirmary, we're going to need help." Harry said after a few minutes of quiet reflection. He wasn't sure why, but he was certain a levitation spell wouldn't be any more effictive than their own efforts had been.

"Help! That's it!" Naruto shouted happily. "Why didn't I think of it before?"

"What are you talking about?" Harry asked, pulling himself upright.

But, if Naruto heard him, he ignored it completely. Instead, he pulled himself into the meditative position that Jiraya had taught him. Manifesting himself in his own mindscape, he went directly to the fox's cage.

"Hey fox!" He shouted into the darkness.

**What is it brat? **The words echoed through the gigantic room, part sound, part thought.

"Do you want to know how strong Gohan is?"

**Oh, I see. **The fox said, a trace of humor in its voice. **You want to use my power to test him? Very well. Take all the power you want.**

The fox's sinister Chakra seeped through the cage, swirling around Naruto. Layer upon layer, the Chakra flowed out of the cage in an ever growing pool. Naruto fought to keep his mind rational in the torrent of hate as the fox's Chakra flooded his system. The fox had never, willingly, given him this much Chakra before!

On the outside, Naruto's nails and fangs grew as the fox's Chakra flowed through his Chakra coils. His whiskers darkened and underneath his closed eyelids his eyes took on a deadly red colour. Slowly, a boiling red cloak of Chakra started to bubble around his body. Gohan watched the process in fascination.

"What are you doing?" The demi-saiyan asked, completely fascinated by the changes Naruto was undergoing.

"I'm getting some extra help." Naruto explained, still focused on controlling the bloodthirsty Chakra. Suddenly his eyes shot open. "HEY! You're supposed to be unconscious!"

"I am?" Gohan asked, scratching the back of his head. "Sorry."

"Aren't you supposed to be teaching Hermoine's class?" Harry asked, coughing slightly.

The color drained from Gohan's face in a heartbeat, almost matching Ron's fearful gaze. His eyes widened into a facial expression that seemed to scream: Oh Shit!

"SorryI'vegottago!" Gohan shouted in a single breath, and then he was gone. He didn't run away. He was just gone. One minute he was there, and the next was gone.

"How does he do that?" Harry asked, collapsing back onto the soft grass. Naruto stared at the space that Gohan had just occupied for several long seconds, until he released a furious roar. Harry looked up at the sound. What started as a transparent, bubbling energy covering Naruto, was now a solid red, well defined body.

"What the bloody hell is..." The question died on Ron's lips as the red thing, that _was _Naruto speared him with the most ferocious expression Harry had ever seen. Slowly, his hand reached for the flimsy piece of magical wood. Though, he doubted that it would be of much help against the four tailed demon that was sizing up his best friend.

Suddenly the air returned to its previous temperature, and the red-fox-thing, shook its head as if to clear away an unpleasant thought. And then it took off like a missile running at an impossible speed towards the Forbidden Forest.

Harry and Ron looked at each other for a few seconds. Harry even opened his mouth to say something, but after looking back to the tiny red speck that was Naruto, decided against it.

XXXXXXX

Sakura's limited patience was starting to run out. Scratch that, her limited patience had run out twenty minutes ago

_What the hell am I still doing here?_ She fumed mentally. _Class was supposed to have started thirty minutes ago! He's obviously not going to show._

But despite her restlessness, she couldn't bring herself to leave. Perhaps, it was concern for the other students. Or, maybe, it was guilt from breaking into his private memories. It might even have been, curiosity. But whatever it was that was keeping her from leaving the locked classroom, it seemed to have sunk its hooks into the other students as well. All nine Muggle Studies students were still faithfully hovering around the locked door.

The students were all broken out of their stupor by the clicking of a lock. They all turned their attention to the heavy wooden door as it swung open to reveal the youthful professor.

"Sorry I'm late." He said, bowing apologetically. "I, uhm, ran into a wall." He admitted, blushing with embarrassment. "But, come in. We have a lot to cover and not a lot of time left."

The nine students obediently filed into the room, though he couldn't help but notice that they seemed more subdued than they did on their first lesson.

As soon as they were seated, he sat down on the polished professor's desk. Facing his nine charges, he smiled warmly.

"So," he asked, looking from student to student. "Who can tell me where we left off last time?"

Predictably, Hermoine's hand shot into the air first. Judging by the far-away look in her eyes, her reaction was more out of instinct than an actual desire to answer.

"Yes, Hermoine?"

"Well, you showed us that memory." She said, carefully organizing her thoughts. "About Sixteen. You said that he was a machine, created to kill your father. And then you asked us if he had less rights than us, because he wasn't born. And, uhm..." She paused, trying to recall exactly what had happened next. "You said that he gave his life to protect nature."

"Thank you, Hermoine. That was very concise." He looked to the other students, noting that with the exception of Sakura, they were all avoiding eye contact. "So, now that you've all had a few days to think about it, I want to know. What do you think? Was Sixteen alive? Does he deserve to live?"

An awkward silence settled over the room like a thick blanket. The four boys Dean, Ernie, Shaun and Philip kept their eyes down, focused on their own tables. The girls' reaction was slightly more varied. Sakura kept her eyes on Gohan, but seemed to be thinking along other lines. Hermoine's gaze jumped from person to person, hoping someone else was going to answer. Lavender kept mumbling under her breath, but didn't seem to want to answer the terrible question. Alice and Petal kept shooting glances at each other, silently daring the other to speak first.

The silence seemed to stretch, until it swallowed all concept of time. But, Gohan's penetrating gaze still darted from person to person. It was quickly becoming clear that he would not answer this question for them.

Surprisingly Philip's hand was the first to rise.

"Yes, Philip?" Gohan asked, nodding towards the older boy.

"Uhm... I don't really know if Sixteen was alive, or just... you know... a very realistic imitation of life. But, I kept thinking of my father." He paused, hesitantly. But his silent question went unanswered, so he decided to plough on through his story.

"My father was a muggle. An, uhm, carpenter. And he would always tell us that we should always take pride in the things we make, because a part of you lives in everything you make..." He looked around uncertainly, but only Gohan was making eye contact, and he showed no signs of either agreeing or disagreeing. So, deciding that he wasn't going to get any moral support, he pushed on.

"So, I just thought, that maybe if that was true. Then, maybe it doesn't matter if he's alive or not. Maybe it matters more how we think and feel about him?"

Gohan looked up thoughtfully, mulling over the statement.

"Interesting." He said eventually. "So, you're saying that whether we think of him as a living being, is more important than whether he actually is alive?"

"Uhm... Yes." He said hesitantly.

"I haven't actually thought of it like that before." Gohan admitted. "But its a beautiful summary."

The young professor stood up from his table and started writing on the black board. While his hand quickly scribbled across the green surface, he asked the class in general. "So, what does this have to do with muggle studies?"

He stepped away from the board to reveal in full glory... three columns.

At the top of the first column, the words "Death Eaters" were written. Above the second, "Hogwarts Teachers" and "Ministry" above the last.

"I was originally planning on doing a comparison between our perception on Sixteen and the way wizards see muggles. But after Philip's elegant answer, I think this fits in better."

"Uhm... Professor?" Petal asked, biting her lip nervously.

"Yes?"

"The time's up."

"What?" Gohan checked his watch, and was surprised to find that he had already continued fifteen minutes into the next period.

And that was saying something, when one considers that the next period was supper...

"Okay, well that's all for today. But for homework. I want you all to make a similar list comparing three groups' views on a particular subject. Then we will see how the way that they 'feel about' the topic influences their actions."

The sound of scraping chairs filled the room as all nine students stood up simultaneously, grabbing their bags from the floor.

"And before you leave my classroom for the weekend, I want to leave you with a final thought about Android Sixteen: He gave his life to save my planet, not because he saw himself as powerful, or a hero. But because he saw Earth as worth saving. What do you consider worth saving?"

XXXXXXX

When Gohan walked into the dining hall, most students had already finished eating. But despite his disappointment at missing supper he couldn't help but notice the different atmosphere. Usually, students were whispering to each other about the "Muggle Professor", and ways to catch him off guard. Tonight, however, the discussion was far more somber as students furiously discussed something about a red monster inside Hogwarts.

With his sensitive hearing, he could pick up snippets of conversation that were spoken slightly louder than the usual background chatter:

"... completely destroyed..."

"Why... forest?"

"... weapon..."

"Hogwarts... no longer safe."

"Where the hell is Dumbledore!"

By the time he took his seat at the Professors' table, all the teachers were present. Even Professor Trelawny and Hagrid had decided to make an appearance. The only member of staff not present was Dumbledore...

Taking his seat as at the table seemed to be some sort of unspoken signal, as Professor McGonagall chose that moment to rise up from her seat. Pulling out her wand, she released several loud bangs to quiet the increasingly frantic discussions that were being held all over the long wooden tables.

"QUIET PLEASE!" She commanded in her most authoritative voice. "PLEASE QUIET DOWN!"

The noise faded to only a handful of worried whispers before she continued.

"As I'm sure you have all heard, a red creature has been sighted on Hogwarts grounds. And although it is uncertain how it managed to get through the protective enchantments protecting Hogwarts, we urge you not to panic. Currently, the new security consultant Hatake Kakashi, as well as the new potions master have gone to ensure that this new development does not prove harmful to either the school, or the students therein."

Immediately the whispering started to pick up again. This time, the whispering seemed to focus around a single question.

Reading the atmosphere as only she could, McGonagall continued. "Professor Dumbledore is away on urgent business. He has, however, not left the school defenseless. While Kakashi and Gai ensure that this mysterious beast does not endanger the lives of the students in this school, we will be taking additional measures."

"We have not ruled out the fact that this is an attack on Hogwarts itself. So, to ensure the safety of everyone in this school, we will not be allowing you to return to your dormitories after supper. Instead, you will remain here for the night. All of us," she gestured towards the other professors, "will remain here through the night to protect you should we find ourselves in the worst case scenario."

Judging by the varied expressions of the teachers sitting on either side of him, Gohan guessed that he wasn't the only lecturer to be out-of-the-loop. He thought a handful looked prepared for the news, but the vast majority looked taken aback.

Only Professors Snape and Flitwick, seemed to be completely neutral to the news. Not quite surprised, but at the same time Gohan could feel their magical Ki become slightly agitated in response. Turning his attention back towards the other teachers, he was surprised to see the determination that had taken hold of the other teachers. Apparently their dedication stretched further than the academics of their respective subjects, because it seemed to him that they were perfectly prepared to defend their students with their lives, even if it was on such short notice...

"Yeh ready fir this?" Hagrid asked him. Looking up, Gohan launched his brightest smile at the gigantic man.

"You can count on me."

XXXXXXX

Looking at his watch, Gohan was surprised to see that it was still an hour till midnight. Time seemed to have crawled to a standstill. Nearly four thousand students laid on the floor of the Great Hall in sleeping bags, neatly arranged into groups.

The excitement had lasted for a good three hours after the announcement, but eventually the students started dropping off, one by one. Gohan had even heard one boy jokingly ask his friend to wake him if they were all about to die.

But despite the relaxed quiet that had settled in the hall, Gohan couldn't completely surrender himself to the peaceful atmosphere. There were several things that he couldn't quite ignore. Firstly, all the ninja were absent. Shouldn't they be present, considering that they were hired to protect the school? Secondly, Dumbledore was absent as well. What could be so important that he would leave the safety of his school in the hands of obviously less capable wizards and witches?

But most of all, he couldn't help but wonder if the red beast had been Naruto. He had seen the red cload that had slowly started to envelop him, but Naruto had seemed to be in perfect control by the time he left. And, besides, he said that he was "asking for help", so that meant whatever he was doing, it was voluntary. Gohan just couldn't picture Naruto doing anything that would endanger others by choice...

"You can go rest now."

Gohan looked up at the speaker, or rather, down at the speaker. It was Professor Flitwick. Apparently Flitwick had come to relieve him of duty. McGonagall had decided that the teachers would take shifts, allowing each to sleep for two hours before returning to the Great Hall.

"Thanks," the youth replied. Rubbing his sleepy eyes, he slowly started walking through the masses of students towards the passage that led to his room.

"Gohan?"

"Yes," He asked, turning around.

"You really don't have to stay up with us, you know. I'm sure the rest of us can handle anything that decides to wander in tonight."

"I know."

"Then, why are you here?" Professor Flitwick asked. "On the frontlines, I mean. Why are you so determined to fight in an adult's war?"

Gohan thought silently for several long seconds, thankful for the fact that the miniature Professor chose to wait patiently for his answer. Eventually, he gave his answer and started the long walk to his room, leaving the Charms teacher with a lot to think about.

XXX

Despite his body's unparalleled ability to keep going, his mind was slowly starting to shut down. His thoughts became less coherent as he approached his bedroom, each thread of thought eventually snapping under a mind that was no longer able to review each relevant detail.

Rather than bring peace to the demi-saiyan, it instead left him with worries that he couldn't quite pinpoint. He knew that he was worried about a lot of things, but those worries refused to coalesce into clearly defined problems.

Unlocking his bedroom door, Gohan didn't even notice the fact that his small Ki-shield was missing. He did, however, notice the new closet next to his fireplace, rattling mysteriously. He would have opened it, but somehow, he couldn't bring himself to care about an old rattling closet. Not when fifteen teachers were patrolling through nearly four thousand sleeping studetns, ready to die defending them.

Taking off his weights, clearing the Ki stored in them, and placing them in the reinforced safe, Gohan flopped down on the bed.

But after a painfully long five minutes, he realized that it was impossible to surrender to unconsciousness. The unidentifiable nagging at the back of his head simply wasn't going to allow him. And it would be a lot easier to keep his senses attuned to the Great Hall while he was working, than it would be while sleeping.

So, pulling himself out of bed, he seated himself in-front of the mahogany desk. Pulling a few papers closer, he decided that he might as well get started on the Muggle Studies project. Even with 5 classes helping, it was going to take a lot of effort to build another ship that could take him home.

He started by considering the options in creating the ship's power system. But twenty five minutes later, he had made no progress. His exhausted mind just couldn't quite figure out how to lower the voltage that the power supply provided to a safer voltage for the sensitive electronics that were needed to steer the ship, without wasting the electricity in the conversion process.

Opening the top drawer, he took out his capsule case, in the hope that the busted escape pod that he landed in would provide some clue on how Bulma had solved the problem. The capsules were all color coded and labeled according to the items that they held inside. After a quick scan, he reached for the capsule that contained the tiny time-machine.

His fingers froze just above the capsule. He had been so accustomed to quickly identifying the capsule that he needed that he had never bothered with the other capsules that he couldn't recognize. But now that he thought about it, Bulma had added several capsules to his case in preparation for this journey. Originally there were two additional time-machines, incase something went wrong with the main ship. A sleeping bag. Two yellow capsules that obviously contained vehicles, though he didn't recognize the model numbers.

His eyes however, were drawn to the capsule on the far right of the case. It was marked with a soft orange, with a single red star in the middle. Just like the dragon balls...

He hesitated for a second, before deciding that he probably wasn't going to get anything productive done this late at night anyway, and reached for the capsule. Not sure of the size of its contents, Gohan clicked and threw the capsule into the widest open space in his room. Whatever he had been expecting, it certainly wasn't a shoe-box.

The shoebox looked strangely small in the centre of the room. He had been expecting something else. Or at least, something bigger.

Picking up the box, he was even more surprised to find that it was a box for _women's _shoes. Fearing the worst, he carefully placed the box on his desk, and carefully pulled the lid off.

Instead of shoes, however, there was a small package, tightly wrapped up in a velvet cloth. To the left of the velvet bundle, there was a small note. Picking it up, he was not surprised to find Bulma's handwriting.

_Hey Kiddo,_

_Bet you weren't expecting to hear from me again so soon. I didn't want to give this to you in front of Vegeta, but I thought you should have it. It's something I found in the woods just before I met your father. I didn't know what it was at the time, except that it was technological. But, when I found it this morning looking through my old things, I knew what it was, and that it should really belong to you._

Gohan felt his heart beat slightly faster. He knew that it had to be old technology, if it predated his father's twelfth birthday. But what could possibly be so important that she didn't want to give it to him in front of Vegeta?

_It's in pretty bad shape, however. I could probably fix it, but after studying it for a few hours this morning, I realised that the circuitry is pretty messed up. A little imbalance in the power supply, and it could all go up in smoke. So, I thought I'd give it you as is. Then you can decide if you want to take the risk of repairing it._

_Hope your enjoying your holiday,_

_Bulma_

Breath catching in his throat, Gohan carefully pulled the velvet package open, inside was a small black box, with an angular piece of red glass attached at one end of the device.

"A scouter?" Gohan whispered to himself, almost afraid to touch the fragile device. Because, despite the fact that Bulma had gone through some trouble to make it presentable, it still seemed to be extremely old. Carefully lifting the smooth plastic-like case.

A million thoughts raced through Gohan's mind, as he gingerly held the device. _Where did Bulma find one?_ All those that made their way to Earth had been destroyed eventually, and they never took one of the devices they encountered on Namek. They had no use for them by then, as their ability to sense Ki far outstripped the limitations of these devices.

And, if Bulma had this device before she encountered his father, did that mean that his dad wasn't the first alien to come to Earth? And why did she think the precious device needed to go to him? Then, it hit him like a ton of bricks:

THIS WAS HIS FATHER'S SCOUTER!

The demi-saiyan froze, staring at the small package in his hands. He had never thought about it before, but his father came to earth to destroy it. As a saiyan, he obviously came with a scouter. But, of course he lost his memories, so he wouldn't remember it...

Looking at it more closely, it was clearly different from the other models he had seen. The ear piece was pitch black for one, and the glass had sharp angular corners instead of the smooth corners of what he now knew where the newer models.

But what intrigued Gohan most of all, was the slight burn marks where the glass and ear piece came together. Gohan knew a Ki burn when he saw one.

Doing the math, Gohan realised that by the time Bulma had found it, it had been lying abandoned for roughly a decade. The decade that Grandpa Gohan had spent raising Goku... And yet, despite being abandoned by its owner soon after landing, it had clearly seen battle already. Did that mean that the scouter was second hand when it was handed to Goku?

If so, did that mean it once belonged to his father's father? His _grandpa_, he corrected mentally. Or was it simply a fact of life that 3rd class saiyans got the old, unwanted equipment?

Letting out a breath he didn't know he was holding in, he carefully explored the exterior with his fingers. If he remembered correctly, Dumbledore had mentioned that electronics didn't work inside of Hogwarts, so it would probably be best not to turn the device on, inside of the magical enivornment. There was no telling what its age (not to mention a decade left to weather the elements) combined with magic would do to the poor device. Even the more modern devices seemed to explode under the smallest strains...

Gohan nearly dropped the device in shock as he felt a small amount of Ki rocket into his room. His first reaction being a hostile attack, he quickly leaned to the side. But, instead of exploding on contact with his wall, the silver spell instead gracefully landed on its desk and took the form of a silvery glowing cat.

"Professor Son, you are requested to join us in the teacher's conference room for an urgent meeting." McGonagall's voice said through the cat, before it faded to nothing.

Blinking at the spot that the strange cat had stood minutes before, the word 'urgent' finally registered with the shocked teen. Jumping up, he quickly and carefully wrapped the scouter up in its velvet cloth and deposited it in his top drawer, before running towards the conference room at a speed that would have put an Olympic medalist to shame.

XXXXXXX

Knocking on the door, he was only slightly surprised when it opened for him. Perhaps it was enchanted to only let lecturers through...

"Ah, welcome Gohan. It seems that we are all present now." Dumbledore said in a somber whisper. "Please, take a seat."

"If I may, Professor." This time it was Snape who spoke. "The entire school is on high alert, is it really wiseto withdraw all the _Professors," _Gohan couldn't help but notice the placement he placed on the word Professors, shooting him a condescending glare, "from the Great Hall?"

"I understand your concern," Dumbledore said in a nodding towards him. "However, Kakashi informs me that the creature was detained and will not be posing any further threat to this school. And while we do not yet know what, or who, this creature is, it seems unlikely to me that it was an attack sent by Voldemort. His plans are usually either more subtle and co-ordinated."

"Perhaps it was simply a stroke of fortune on our part." Professor McGonagall suggested. "Perhaps this creature, was meant to be part of a greater attack force, but sprang the trap early."

"I have not yet ruled out that consideration," Dumbledore agreed. "However, the reason I have called this meeting is because there has been a more troubling development. Lord Voldemort has made a move to seize London. Kingsly notified me a few minutes ago that they have identified a group of giants, accompanied by dementors marching towards London."

"What!" Gohan shouted in surprise. "He's attacking, now? We have to do something!"

"As much as I'd hate to agree with, _Professor _Son. He does have a point. If London should fall, there will no way that we can keep the wizarding world a secret from the muggles any longer."

"Agreed!" Professor Sprout almosted shouted. "Why are we wasting time here?"

"Because," Dumbledore said solemnly, "I believe that this is simply a diversion."

There was a stunned silence around the room before McGonagall asked the question that was on everyone else's lips: "What is his real target, Hogwarts?"

"No," was the headmaster's decisive answer. "While he views Hogwarts as a pivotal milestone to conquering the wizarding world, he cannot ignore the fact that the school is simply that. A school. To really seize control, he needs to create confusion of such a degree that there will be no united uprising against him. And Hogwarts will not fall easily, especially with half his army busy causing a ruckus in London. Rather, I believe that his real target is the Ministry of Magic."

There was a stunned silence of disbelief, which was finally broken by Snape. "It would match his style. All the Auror's will be immediately dispatched to head off the giant problem, leaving the Ministry completely open to attack."

"But, can we truly rule out the idea that he might be targeting Hogwarts?" Professor Sprout asked, "After all, there was a magical beast sighted within Hogwarts territory. If Voldemort has found a way to fabricate monsters, then it might be entirely plausible that he could attack the school without his dementors and giants."

"Precisely, that's why I called this meeting. We have to decide how we are going to react to this new development, and we may also have to consider changing the tatics we have been using up to this point. With Voldemort's new disregard for secrecy, keeping the wizarding world hidden from muggles may no longer be possible."

"If I may be so bold, headmaster. If these 'ninjas' have been hired to protect the school, why are they not present at this meeting. And why have we not heard of them even trying to intercept this 'beast'. Surely a creature that appeared right next to, what do they call him now? Oh, that's right, 'the chosen one', should be considered highly dangerous."

Gohan was torn in two. On the one hand, he had clearly seen Naruto transform into that red thing. And although he hadn't thought much of it at the time, it seemed that some very important decisions were about to be made on the false assumption that it was a hostile creature.

But, on the other hand, he liked to think that he and Naruto had some sort of friendship. While he might not know much about the ninja, it was hard to shake off the bonding experience they had shared earlier in this very day. Perhaps it was stupid, but he felt that he had some responsibility to help keep whatever secret the blond was keeping.

He was somewhat surprised when he started talking, some portion of his brain already having decided for him.

"Professor Dumbledore," he heard his gentle voice venture into the silence. "If I may, I don't know what Voldemort is planning to do. But Hogwarts is already well defended, and if Professor Snape is correct, the giants will attract a very strong defensive reaction from the Aurors. It is the Ministry that is currently left defenseless. But, unlike Hogwarts, the Ministry does carry as many protective enchantments. Why don't we just send them a message that Voldemort is coming, so they can evacuate?"

"But that would leave the Department of Mysteries completely undefended!" Professor Flitwick said in realization.

"But Voldemort has already penetrated the ministry to a very large degree, it is unlikely that we can prevent him from taking anything from even the Department of Mysteries."

The room quickly fell into a thoughtful silence, everyone coming to the same realization. It would be almost impossible to perfectly protect four potential targets. The silence was finally broken by Dumbledore's decisive tone.

"Very well. Filius, take Gohan with you to the Ministry. You two will focus on getting as many people out of the building as possible. Cause a bit of a stir..." His eyes lit up with bemusement for a second, before settling in its usual serious gaze. "I will see to the threat that faces London myself. The rest of you will ensure that Hogwarts remains secure."

Judging by their faces, Gohan could tell that although they had their reservations, none of the Professors were prepared to contradict Dumbledore on such an important decision.

XXXXXXX

Professor Flitwick's small form floated two feat off the ground, suspended by his own charm and moving forward at an impressive speed. Gohan, jogging next to him, couldn't bring himself to break the silence that had formed between them.

It wasn't the awkward silence that so often enveloped muggles and wizards. Rather, it was the solid, comforting silence that rested between comrades.

"We're here." Gohan pulled himself to a stop next to the floating half-goblin. He already knew what 'here' meant. They were outside of Hogwarts's protective charms. It would be safe to apparate now.

"So, how does this work?" He asked, a little bit nervous. He was going to be disappearing after all, and the thought that he might not reappear with all of his body parts, was unsettling.

"Just take hold of my arm." The tiny wizard instructed. Doing as he was told, Gohan soon felt Flitwick twist away from him. He increased his grip slightly, and then the world went black...

**Hey everybody! *Hides behind a rocky outcrop* Please don't kill me.**

**I know this update has been a teensy bit later than I promised, but so much has happened... But I'll try to be more consistent now that things have settled down a little.**

**I want to give a quick heads up to Divine Saiyan Psyagon, without whom this chapter would probably still be incomplete. His constant pushing for me to finish this has breathed new life into a story that I almost gave up on. So, to thank him, please check out his stories and give them a review.**

**And to everyone else, I'm REALLY REALLY sorry for not replying to the numerous encouraging messages and reviews that I have received over the last few months. I don't really have a good excuse, but I'm fully back now, and would love to hear from all of you. So, send me message, or a review, and let me know what you think of this chapter. **

**And for those who are interested, I've put my YIM details on my profile. I'm always looking for interesting people to chat with, so feel free to add me and say hello. ((Please note, that I have changed to a new Yahoo address, and I've removed my MSN details as I no longer use MSN.))**


End file.
